It’s pretty hard not to enjoy a Dan Owen show.
If you’ve had the pleasure of seeing him perform before, we’re sure that you’ll feel the same. After all, how often do you get to hear one of the best blues-rock voices in the British music scene today come out of the mouth of a man who – with all due respect – looks like he could easily pass as a sixteen-year-old boy?
Ah, we’re just messing with you, Dan. After all, you know that everyone here at One on One HQ is a big fan of yours. We’ve seen you a few times before, and we’ve never failed to be blown away by your relentless combination of pounding guitar playing, gravelly vocals, and kick-ass mouth organ playing:
This is a seriously stacked lineup
So, with that in mind, it’s fair to say that we were very much looking forward to seeing Dan play when we rocked up at Bristol’s The Lantern for his sold-out headline show there. We were looking forward to it so much, in fact, that we did what any dedicated gig-goer would do: we got to the venue as soon as the doors opened, grabbed ourselves a pint, and waited for the support act to grace the stage with their presence.
Imagine our joy, dear reader, when we turned up and found out that the night’s main support act was a young singer/songwriter named Billy Lockett. Now, if you’ve been browsing the hallowed pages of One on One for a while, you’ll know that we think that Billy Lockett is absolutely bloody brilliant. He’s a rare breed: a mournful singer/songwriter that not only knows how to write a great piano-pop song, but how to sing them in a way that makes you really believe every word that’s coming out of his mouth.
We won’t go into the details of what constitutes a Billy Lockett live show – after all, we did that a couple of years ago. So, all we’ll say here is that his set at The Lantern absolutely floored us, and left us thoroughly convinced that he’s going to be one of the men of the moment by this time next year.
These guys have some major talent
If we’re honest, we don’t think that there are many people who can follow a Billy Lockett live set. Fortunately for him, however, Dan Owen is one of them. From the moment he stepped on to the stage, the Shrewsbury-born singer/songwriter delivered a bona fide masterclass in how to play the hell out of an acoustic guitar while also delivering some absolutely flawless live vocals.
We’ve been racking our brains to try and pick a highlight from his set, but we’re just not sure that we’re can. As much as we enjoyed his tender acoustic twist on new single Hideaway, we were equally as impressed by his mournful rendition of the gorgeous Made to Love You; and, of course, his trademark closing performance of Little Red Rooster never fails to leave anyone in the vicinity wondering how the hell he manages to play the mouth organ/thrash a guitar/sing/pound away at some percussion with his feet, all at the same time.
We know that we’ve used quite a few words to make our point, but here’s what we’re trying to say: the next time that you get the chance to head down to a Dan Owen show, we really do think that you should go. We guarantee that you won’t regret it.