The Duke and The King
The Cluny, Newcastle, 26 April 2010

Every so often you get blown away by a band, and tonight was one of those occasions. I might not even have been here tonight had Danny and the Champions of the World not been on the supporting bill. The always-entertaining Danny (operating in reduced circumstances with opening act Trevor Moss and Hannah-Lou joining him for a stripped-down set) was great, but The Duke and The King were even better – undoubtedly one of the best bands I’ve seen up here for years.

Originally a side project for Simone Felice of The Felice Brothers, The Duke and The King (named after a pair of travelling hustlers in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) has now become Felice’s priority, and seem destined for very great things. Felice (The Duke) and Bobbie Bird Burke (The King) recorded debut album Nothing Gold Can Stay in a one-room woodstove-heated cabin. It’s a good album – warm, catchy Americana – but it becomes really great in a live setting.

Adding Simi Stone and Nowell Haskins to become a four-piece takes the songs to another level. All four are outstanding vocalists, combining voices to produce outstanding harmonies, and the swapping of instruments and singing duties gives the set real variety.

Opener If You Ever Get Famous starts as folky Americana with Felice’s voice and guitar, adds Stone’s fiddle, Haskins’s drums and Burke’s bass, and builds into a glorious, harmony-fuelled gospel-soul number.

Then it’s straight into The Morning I Get To Hell, with audience participation encouraged and gained. The setlist is great – the cream of the album, plus a couple of Felice Brothers songs – Don’t Wake The Scarecrow and Radio Song – and a few nice cover versions.

One of the many highlights is a wonderful sing-a-long version of Neil Young’s Helpless, which has Danny and The Champions and the majority of the audience joining in. But the most surprising moment is when Haskins (aka Reverend Loveday) goes centre stage to perform a jaw-dropping acapella version of Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come. This guy’s amazing voice gets a huge roar of approval from the Cluny crowd, so loud it must be heard all along the Tyne.

The fact that these guys seem to be enjoying themselves a great deal only enhances the evening. It felt like a privilege to be here tonight, seeing a band that in a more perfect world would be on every iPod in the land. That day may come, but until then we can feel incredibly lucky to have seen a band with so much talent it could barely be squeezed into this tiny venue.

The album Nothing Gold Can Stay is on Spotify.
A fantastic live session can be downloaded free from Daytrotter.
A Later… performance of The Morning I Get To Hell is on YouTube.

Music

Phew, what a relief. After the trauma of relegation 12 months ago, Newcastle United have returned to the Premier League at the first time of asking, securing the Coca Cola Championship title with a 2-0 win at Plymouth last night.

After being deservedly demoted from a relatively poor top flight last season, with a raft of sub standard players on the pitch, no manager off it, and destabilising uncertainty involving the ownership of Mike Ashley, few predicted the Magpies would make such a swift return to football’s promised land. Instead, a financially crippling extended stay in the lower leagues was forecast, and the entire future of the club was placed in doubt.

However, instead of rolling over and going to sleep, Newcastle United has fought back and righted a lot of wrongs. And full credit must be given to Chris Hughton and the players. A lot of criticism was flung at them last season, much of it deserved, as the relegation inarguably proved. But they have taken a long hard look at themselves, rolled up their sleeves, and restored their pride.

A major turning point looked to be the shocking 6-1 pre-season defeat to Leyton Orient. Managerless, up for sale, and with any player of value being offloaded, it appeared things couldn’t get much worse. But, somehow, the remaining players came together. A hard-fought 1-1 draw at West Brom on the opening day of the season proved they weren’t about to lie down. And things improved from there.

It hasn’t always been pretty. The team got into a routine of scrapping out results without playing particularly well. A couple of decent acquisitions in the January transfer window added some much needed bodies to the squad, and the quality improved in the run-in. But the quality didn’t matter. All the Toon Army wanted was results. And now they’re back in the big time.

So now that promotion has been secured, and rare silverware has been won, what happens next? Despite a fantastic season in the Championship, the squad remains ill-suited for the Premier League. While some have improved, the truth is that many of the players have found their level in the Championship. Certainly, changes will be required.

Following the last promotion campaign, in 1993, then-manager Kevin Keegan ruthlessly dispatched star players such as David Kelly and Gavin Peacock, determining that they weren’t good enough to make the step up to the top flight. Does Hughton have such a ruthless streak? And does he have money to spend to buy replacements?

As always with Newcastle United, next season will undoubtedly be another rollercoaster ride. For now, sensibly, there will be no open top bus parade, no celebrations in the street. Top flight status has been restored, but the reputation of the club still requires some reparation. There is plenty of work to be done to re-establish Newcastle United as a top football club. But allow us a quiet cold drink. The Toon Army are back in the big time.

See more Newcastle United posts here.

Football