Sam Green And The Midnight Heist, LIVE at The Sebright Arms: 08.05.14

Worried that I’m arriving at The Sebright Arms rather late, after feeling like I’ve trekked across half of East London – my phone dying and my sweat dripping – I’m relieved to discover that I have not missed any of Sam Green And The Midnight Heist; in fact, the venue is pretty much empty and the support band have not even started yet. Phew.

Support comes in the form of Yan Yates – and what a lovely start to the evening that is. Although they start off playing to a rather sparse crowd, the room soon starts to fill with folk fans a plenty, heads bobbing and feet tapping. Delivering one catchy folk-rock tune after another, charming the crowd with anecdotes and praise for the headlining act, Yates and co. treat us to a delightful set, that has me yearning for summer days of fields and folk.

By the time Sam Green And The Midnight Heist take to the stage, I feel a little less flustered but no less sweaty (the basement venue seems to have a sauna-like quality)… However, I soon forget about the extreme temperature issues as I’m swept away amongst an intense blast of charismatic, folk-fused blues rock. Starting the set with an energy-fuelled rendition of ‘Miles Away’ – with lashings of Sam’s stunning slide guitar, Joe James’ vigorous booming bass lines, Matt Cooke’s impressively enlivened percussion and raucous riffs expertly executed by James Cameron – this is SGATMH at their best. Quite a contrast from the gentle acoustic, but equally as enchanting, set they delivered when I last saw them. As Green endearingly introduces his band as “Partly from Bristol, partly from Dorset and partly from Birmingham, but tonight we’re from London…”, they continue to deliver assuredly catchy folk tunes, with a distinctly bluesy edge.

Getting in touch with their rootsy blues side, SGATMH succeed in delivering a wonderfully dynamic set that sees the crowd singing along vigorously to ‘Ditty’ and, at one point,- with the animated and extremely enthusiastic encouragement of James directing everyone to jump – even sees the gentile fans creating a mini-folk-mosh! At other times, the band mellow and – with songs such as ‘Passenger’ – Green is able to enchant and captivate with his smooth, enigmatic vocals.

Whether or not Green and co are evoking unlikely crowd violence with their uptempo, buzzing blues beats, or simply lulling their fans into a welcome folk-trance with more serene numbers, they are able to put on a consistently engrossing, exceedingly enjoyable set that has the whole venue heaving in excitement and gratitude. Sweat and phone issues aside, a wonderful night that sees me foot tapping, head swaying and ‘woo wooing’ in equal measure.

Mari Lane

@marimindles