I’m ashamed to say that I have led a blinkered music life in my 41 years on this planet and I am coming to realise that there are artists that have been around for many years that I am only just hearing about, and tonight’s performer is one of them.
Hailing from the fair city of Dublin comes David Kitt. Releasing his first self-recorded & mixed 8 track release “Small Moments” back in 2000 and going on to release the follow up “The Big Romance” the following year which gained a very respectable double platinum status in Ireland alone.
23 years and many additions to his discography later comes his latest release “Idiot Check”, an album once again recorded and produced by himself in-between 2016 and 2022, and the tour to promote that, with tonight’s stop at The Hare & Hounds in Birmingham.
The one thing that drew me to this gig was the phrase used in the promo from his PR company “Genre-Bending”! to me that really peaked my interest, I have always been a sucker for music that defies being pigeonholed into one genre, variety is the spice of life they say, and it can be a recipe for success (or disaster) when it comes to music but in this case from what I have heard pre gig it’s most certainly the former.
Walking into the room the first thing that struck me was the chairs, been a while since I attended a sit down gig, and from past experiences it usually doesn’t bode well for what’s to come, but this was different, it was a welcome situation for what was about to happen, the reasons for why will become apparent shortly.
It was certainly a small, intimate gig, with only about 30 people in the room, I should imagine the large majority were existing fans, and I should hope I was not the only first timer there because my experience tonight was one that should be shared by other new fans.
Things kicked off with a track called balances from the new album, a simple but pleasing acoustic riff backed by a mellow but pronounced rhythm track and ghostly female vocals emanating from his sampler, almost hypnotic, certainly making heads in the room nod in time.
Considering there was only around 30 people in the room the reception was energetic and loud, pure appreciation for Davids opening performance, a theme that would carry on throughout the night.
It seems like so far the tour has had a few hiccups for David to deal with, last night in Cardiff he parked his car in perhaps the only Car Park that shuts overnight, meaning he had to hire a car to get to us in Birmingham and tonight there were Gremlins in the works as his Electric Guitars had somehow decided not to play ball after a successful sound check, meaning tonight the songs which he usually would play on his electrics would have to be done with the acoustics, which could have gone either way, but I honestly never thought that a nylon string acoustic guitar could sound so good using distortion, and if he hadn’t have told us what had happened I don’t think any of us would have known it wasn’t how it should have been. Pure Magic.
Because of the afore mentioned guitar issues it meant that a lot of tuning had to go on between songs, which in some cases I have experienced before meant long, awkward silences, but not in this case. David effortlessly filled the quiet spaces with little anecdotes and stories, really coming across as down to earth and the crowd laughed along with him, there wasn’t a second where he lost the crowd.
The set was filled with songs from his back catalogue as well as others from the new album, at times I found myself closing my eyes and bobbing my head, this is why I mentioned about the chairs being a welcome situation because it was easy to get lost in the music, at times it’s ethereal, dreamy, and as I mentioned before, almost hypnotic. It’s certainly going to be added to my playlist, can imagine it playing in my ears as I’m out doing Landscape Photography, adding to the serenity.
About midway through his set there was his wonderful take on Thin Lizzy’s “Dancing In The Moonlight” which he really made his own and was quite apt given that Lynott was born nearby in West Brom but grew up in Dublin. Not often I find cover versions appealing but this is up there with the best.
The song of the night for me though was the closing number on both the new Album and for tonights set, “Wave Of Peace”, a song that certainly lives up to its name for me, along with everyone else in the room. This was followed by a well-deserved standing ovation for a top-notch performance.
Davids UK Tour continues until the 7th April before heading back to Ireland, so get out to see him if you can, it’s a very pleasant way to spend an evening.
