It’s a step up for The Long Ryders, whose recent appearances in London have been at 229, but as the room fills with a crowd abuzz with anticipation, it was clearly the right move for The Long Ryders to stake their claim on one of Camden’s premier music venues. It also, as he would tell us later, allowed Sid Griffin to walk to the gig – his bandmates Stephen McCarthy and Greg Sowders and bass player Murray Hammond (of the Old ’97s) had a rather longer journey. Of course, in a sense, the whole band has had a long journey, from being one of the bands that made the mid-1980s bearable through the long hiatus and eventual full recording reunion, which has seen, since 2019, as many new albums as The Long Ryders produced the first time around. Their sound has evolved; it can be gentler than those early punch-punch-punch, rapid-fire songs, but they do still have that punch in their back pocket and are willing to let it loose as and when it is needed.
We’re off and going with a classic opener, the instant barrel-down-the-road high energy of Run Dusty Run, followed up with a just perfect (Sweet) Mental Revenge, with a change to the latest album doing nothing to change the pace, although it can be safely assumed that High Noon Hymns would be slightly less familiar – but when you can raid that for as catchy a song as (How How How) How Do You Wanna Be Loved?that’s no problem. It digs into Sid’s softer side, but it’s also driven along at a pounding beat by Greg Sowders, as older love gets it rocking celebration.
Following that up with another new song, with Stephen on lead vocals, but World Without Fear could have fallen off any of those ’80s albums – a weary rock ballad that hits the mark. Joined by the Long Horns, that’s the Long Ryders’ London brass section of saxophones, for the rough-around-the-edges new anthem Stand A Little Further In The Fire, Sid’s vocal is perfect for the swaggering accompaniment. And here’s also the first dig at “The Liar in Chief“; The Long Ryders are not, it’s abundantly clear, fans. The Long Horns on this occasion were mostly present to add a long coda to yet another new song that is just a perfect fit alongside older songs by The Long Ryders; evolution, but also continuity, not an easy trick to pull off, but boy, The Long Ryders pull it off.
Sid Griffin insisted, he told us, that Mason-Dixon Line should be on the set list after a four-decade absence – with so many superb songs to pick from, there’s always going to be a struggle to fit everything in, although the song the band originally recorded with Gene Clark is pretty much guaranteed a spot. What band with any Byrdsian pretension would leave out the greatest Byrds song that the Byrds never recorded? And, again, it doesn’t disappoint, with such fine jangle of guitar and Stephen’s delivery of the most poetic lyrics in The Long Ryders’ repertoire. It always was, and it remains, a real highlight.
It’s back to the political for the sideswipe of Four Winters Away (although that’s only two to go now); it’s a premature celebration as an alternative to “wasting time thinking about it“; better to “propose a toast to the future.” Compared to the perpetual agonising, it’s perhaps a smarter approach; there’s a new dawn for America, and it’s only one, two, three, four winters away; it may take endurance, but this too will pass.
I Want You Bad may have been both a cover, the last single off Two Fisted Tales, and, to cap it all, a flop, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a pretty essential to any love appearance, and Murray Hammond’s lead on the stand-alone single Bear In The Wood acts as a great tribute to Tom Stevens, who had loved that the band had got back together. Heading into the last third of the gig, there was a direct linking of the latest music, in this case the politically driven comment on hypocrites selling snake oil that is Down To The Well, which segued straight into its 12-string big brother Capturing The Flag, the song that REM can only wish they’d written. It’s also blessed with one of the greatest riffs in rock. Not that I Had A Dream is at all deficient in that category, with a great intro that carries into a song of eternal optimism.
Whether Dr Feelgood really counts as an English Folk Song is up for debate, but the Ryders’ take on Going Back Home was plenty satisfying – enlivened again by contributions from the saxophone section – and again there was a straight segue into State Of My Union, Sid Griffin’s homage to southern States, with the requisite number of “y’alls“. An extended Lights Of Downtown closed out the set, with an insight into random violence that Johnny Cash never achieved, coupled with some fiery guitar playing. Seems like the country-punks are a little more thoughtful than the man in black.
The encore saw Sid strapping on a mandolin for, with yet another Byrdsian flourish, a memorable rendition of Forever Young, a song that just grows in appreciation and continually takes on new facets as the light of age shines through its prism. And the true finale, Looking For Lewis And Clark, has undergone a transformation: on the one hand, it’s a great song from the band’s first era, but how shockingly relevant it has become again, with its lines about crooked politicians, venal and self-serving. Who would have thought The Long Ryders would become the political conscience of Americana, but then again, why not? The Long Ryders: Champions of the Paisley Underground? Assuredly. Seminal Americana band? Undoubtedly. Powerful live force? Hey, what’s with all the questions? Let’s just say, what a night it had been; it’s hard to convey just how fine a band The Long Ryders remain, we can only suggest you check our veracity at the earliest opportunity.
Support for the night had come from Oxford-based band The Autumn Saints, who were also the support on a previous time that The Long Ryders came through London. Led by Britt Strickland (from North Carolina), they bring some eclectic topics to Americana, with Josephine introduced as being from the point of view of the dressmaker to Napoleon’s Empress. Citing influences that include The Clash and, of course, The Long Ryders. Their powerful assault of a set included a number of songs from their new album, including a pointed song directed towards coal miners in the States who still think the current president was a good idea. At times, The Autumn Saints get quite melodic, almost prog-rock, if you’ll credit it, but most of the time there’s a greater reliance on a solid alt-country inspiration.
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