Rick Witter, of course, used to be in a band called Shed Seven, the band responsible for some of the indie classics of the 90s - a band that had a surprising number of top 40 hits during that decade. Shed Seven split up a few years ago, and since then, Rick Witter has been quiet. Now back on tour with his band The Dukes, the tour flyer promised a mixture of new songs and old Shed Seven classics.
Getting into the Garage to catch the last 10 minutes of the support band, it was striking how empty the place was - main act due on inside 40 minutes, and there cannot have been more than 50-60 people inside. I did start to feel a bit sorry for Rick Witter - who is far more likely to make his money by playing live than selling records these days - but then a £12.50 ticket for a gig wasn't exactly cheap in a place this size.
By the time the band came on, the crowd was looking a lot more respectable - not completely packed, but a healthy audience. The band came on and ploughed straight into Shed Seven classic Getting Better, which went down an absolute storm. The number of Shed Seven t-shirts towards the front of the crowd quickly increased.
In all during the set, the band played 5 Shed Seven songs - Getting Better, Where Have You Been Tonight?, On Standby, Going For Gold, and Chasing Rainbows. Five well-chosen songs, drawn mainly from Shed's second album - probably their best all in all. But, also of huge interest were the new songs, by Rick Witter and the Dukes. They were pleasingly good, and comprised most of the set. Obviously sounding quite like Shed Seven, but with shades of Embrace I thought, there were some great songs tucked away in this set.
Rick Witter can obviously write decent guitar songs, and can clearly also play them live very well - whether he will be successful with The Dukes, or whether his past career will hold him back, time will tell. I think The Dukes deserve success. I'll be going to see them again.
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