Danny Vaughn with special guest Tony Mitchell
Eleven, Stoke
Review by; Ruthii
Eleven is packed on a Thursday night ready to enjoy acoustic sets from Tony Mitchell and the headliner Danny Vaughn.
Tony Mitchell, best known for his work with Kiss Of The Gypsy as vocalist and guitarist, is the support act tonight. He opens with a medley of ‘Heartache’ and ‘Waiting Tor This Feeling’.
He calls out ‘good evening everyone’ to which he receives a healthy response. He goes on with ‘Easy Does It’ by Kiss Of The Gypsy.
He stops to talk to the audience again, who are engaged, as he starts to play out a familiar opener, as ‘Summer of 69’ begins to play, he stops abruptly as the crowd recognize the songs and everybody laughs. He leads straight into ‘Never say die’ from his current solo album. Beggars Gold was released in 2018 and it is the title track that he performs for us now. This track comes outside of the set list as Mitchell ‘sneaks’ it in to uphold an earlier request. This gives us an exclusive live acoustic performance that had not been seen on the tour previously.
The intimacy that an acoustic set offers becomes apparent when Mitchell gives us a story form 1991 during the time he was in Kiss of the Gypsy when the album was being written and recorded. The record company felt that there needed to be a ballad and if they didn’t deliver he would have one written. Mitchell set out and wrote ‘Take this old heart of mine’. He then performs this song. The enticing opening line of ‘let’s fly away now’ as we are whisked away by a heart piercing vocal from Mitchell.
For the next track, Tony calls up friends, drummer Neil Ogden and owner of Eleven Paul Hume. The trio met at the annual Bulldog Bash a few years ago. He tells of how they would sit up and talk about all the friends they had loved and lost, forcing Tony to write ‘Ride with Angels’. The track has a poignancy of 3 good friends, united in remembrance and music.
From the back catalogue of music that Mitchell has written and performed during his music career, there was never a doubt that he could not perform without the final song in his set. Promised Land takes us on a ‘magical journey’.
Set List
• Heartache/Waiting for this feeling
• Easy does it/Rock n Roll (Kiss of the Gypsy/)
• No prize for the loser (Kiss of the Gypsy)
• Never say die (Solo)
• Bonus track Beggars Gold (Solo)
• Take this old Heart of Mine (Kiss of the Gypsy)
• Ride with the angels (Solo)
• Promised Land (Kiss of the Gypsy)
Starting with ‘Traveller’ to a huge round of applause, Danny looks comfortable and at one with his
surroundings. Onto the first requests which is ‘Write Your Name In The Sky’. He takes instruction from a book he has with him on stage. This is where he has all of the requests written down from his request shout out on Facebook prior to the gig. This concept gives the performance uniqueness and allows each show to be different.
As well as taking the requests he also provides us with a few tunes from his latest album, Myths, Legends and Lies. He asks out to the audience ‘do you have the new album, if not I have a cure for that’. At this point he draws attention to the merch stand in the corner of the room. This is conveyed with a smile, as he then plays ‘The Last Rite of The Sunset Man’.
Next up is a song from his very first solo album, which he describes as not very romantic, this you will see shortly. During the song he calls out, “this is where I usually lose some men in the audience” this again is received with laughter as he sings the lines “is that all there is?”
At the end of the song he comments on the venue. The first thought he had when he walked in was Tyketto should play here. There is the biggest cheer which then prompts him to play ‘Burning Down Inside’. The set continues and he is becoming more and more mesmerizing. This is followed by another solo track ‘Fearless’.
As well as giving a varied set from solo to band material, he lavishes us with a tale behind each song. One story in particular is the one he tells in the lead up to The Run. He regales us with a story of his Uncle who returned from Vietnam. During the conflict his escape route was too long for owning a Harley and taking on The Black Hills Run as part of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
Vaughn shows his humorous side when describing the next song ‘Kelly’s Gone’, from the current album. He talks of a time when he was living in Nashville and how everybody had a Chevy, when more often than not it would be a Toyota as they are the biggest selling truck in the US. So on all of these country songs ‘somebody must be lying’, so to break with tradition, Kelly ups and leaves in a Toyota pick-up. His story-telling and reasoning behind his song lyrics has become hypnotic by this point; we could all stay here all night long.
‘Black Crow’ comes next taken also from the current album, to which he focuses his attention during his next chat with the audience. He describes how he tasked Graham Bell with designing the artwork for the new album and how he was the first person in the world to hear the demo ahead of designing the artwork. It is with coincidence that the font on the album artwork is called Black Crow.
He continues the set with another solo offering ‘The Touch of your Hand’. He switches guitars for Tyketto’s ‘Remember My Name’. Vaughn explains that this was requested and he had never performed it acoustically before and how difficult it was to arrange. This shows his dedication and commitment to his fans as he could have quite easily chosen other requests from the list.
He switches it up even more by performing the Waysted track ‘Singing to the Night’. He stops before the second verse to describe the inspiration behind the song was Phil Lynott, purely based on the fact he loved to use the word ‘night’ in his lyrics.
It was now time for the audience to join in as they all sing the line ‘Standing Alone’ to the classic Tyketto song. This one was requested by a young girl Shannon, who he describes as from generation X. He talks of his gratitude to everybody who listens to his music and also to those like Shannon who are discovering his music years after original release. He appears generally humbled.
Vaughn shakes it up even further by inviting Tony Mitchell back to the stage. The duo performs 3 covers ‘Travellin’ In Style’ by Free, ‘Listen To The Music’ by The Doobie Brothers and ‘Seagull’ by Bad Company. All 3 tracks are performed like a master class on how to perform 3 classic tunes and by involving Tony it brought on a feeling of unity.
As Mitchell leaves the stage we are back with another Tyketto hit ‘The Last Sunset’ and then he is straight back in with 2 solo songs ‘Something I Picked Up Along The Way’ and ‘Point the Way’.
We are nearing the end of the set and Vaughn reflects on how he had recently said goodbye to somebody close. He dedicates ‘Wings’ to him and all those who have lost.
‘In The Shadow Of King John’, Danny explains how this one was written during his time living in Limerick, where he met his wife Melissa. The song focuses on the Celtic Tiger. Tackling such subjects shows a maturity and a varied subject matter in his song writing.
The penultimate song of the evening is ‘Lay Your Body Down’.
Before he leaves Danny gives an update on the project he is involved in with Dan Reed. They intend to release joint material in March 2020.
I think we all knew how the night was going to end. The final song of the night is ‘Forever Young’. Everybody is up on their feet clapping, dancing and singing along. Everybody is united in music and it’s hard not to feel warm and fuzzy.
Danny Vaughns’ set was nothing short of a master class. The room was atmospheric and you could not hear a pin drop outside of Dannys’ vocals and guitar. He had it all, the musical ability and the compassion and connection with his audience. He is a man who clearly loves what he does and this resonates on the happy faces of everybody after the gig. A truly professional show in every way with a support act who was cast perfectly.
Set List
• Traveller (Solo)
• Write your name in the sky (Solo)
• Last ride of the sunset men (Solo)
• Is that all there is? (Solo)
• Burning Down Inside (Tyketto)
• Fearless (Solo)
• The Run (Tyketto)
• Kelly’s Gone (Solo)
• Black Crow (Solo)
• The Touch of Your Hand (Solo)
• Remember my Name (Tyketto)
• Singing to the Night (Waysted)
• Standing Alone (Tyketto)
• Travellin’ in Style by Free
• Listen to the Music by The Doobie Brothers
• Seagull by Bad Company
• The Last Sunset (Tyketto)
• Something I picked up along the way (Solo)
• Point the Way (Solo)
• Wings (Solo)
• In the Shadow of King John (Solo)
• Lay your body down (Tyketto)
• Forever Young (Tyketto)