The Attic, Leeds 20th March 2025
Danny Wilson doesn’t have to batter us with a hit or two at the start – he is playing to the fans and knows they’re looking for a well-constructed show. Instead, he opens with a glorious triptych from his recent, thoughtful and reflective album. These songs ride on a bed of lyrical guitar lines from Paul Lush, especially the second, ‘Kicking Tyres’, and I’m delighted as the song goes on and on. With each round of instrumental verse / chorus, Wilson and Lush kick it on into another, unwilling to stop and, at fifteen minutes, we are into Neil Young hypnotic jam territory.
The new songs get radio sound effects to bookend them, prepared by Thomas Collison on keys, who produced the album. ‘I’m In Love’ is hypnotic too and the set moves into a mix of old and new, dipping back to ‘These Days’ off the band’s eponymous album before returning to the present day for ‘Future Past’. These new songs embody a settled sort of memory, an acceptance and celebration of the passing of time. There is room, of course, for the anthems the band are great at, but sadly not room for the paean to the tour van, ‘Henry The Bus’. Halfway through, things kick uptempo and we build to a triumphant finale. Crowd-pleasers like ‘(Never Stop Building) That Old Space Rocket’ see the crowd shuffling and Danny invites us to dance.
The sound is great and the Fender Precision bass clear and precise, as insistent as only the Precision can be. On the new epic ballad ‘The Robot Cries’, the bass pattern is so infectious that it is almost the lead instrument. Elsewhere, there is much joy in listening to those fluid Telecaster lines from Paul Lush alongside Danny’s energetic strumming. The whole sound of the band is great, including the electric Hammond SK keys and the drums which never overpower.
As the set reaches a climax with the favourite, ‘Sooner Or Later’, Annie Dressner, the support act adds vocals and all that is left is long-time favourite, ‘Every Beat Of My Heart’ as a closer. It is significant that Danny Wilson can omit long-time favourites in favour of new material and still have a killer setlist, focussing on the elegiac yet hopeful new songs. There is a timeless quality to the feel of the songs, yet Danny quips about one song; “If we had recorded this song in 1976 and played it on Pebble Mill At One it would have been a big hit; but we missed our time”. He might have missed the big time but the collection of anthems and ballads that spill out of this band is remarkable and an hour and three-quarters wheel pass without a clunker.
Other reviews of Danny & the Champions of the World
https://www.vanguard-online.co.uk/danny-the-champions-of-the-world-what-kind-of-love/
