Live Review : When Rivers Meet + Dusk Brothers @ Gorilla, Manchester on May 2nd 2024

Gorilla’s stage is packed.  Not the venue - although there is a healthy crowd assembling to catch The Dusk Brothers set – but the stage itself.  Sandwiched between When Rivers Meets drums and back line is what looks at first glance like a veritable junkyard but on closer inspection is actually the self-assembled and DIY instruments that are the band’s trademark.  There are drum kits made out of repurposed oil drums, sheets of metal hanging from a frame as another percussive element, a bright red megaphone, even a theremin.  It’s different from any band you’ve seen – or are likely to see – this year, and is fascinating in its uniqueness. And if there is a lived-in grimy appearance to the instruments, it suits the The Dusk Brothers style and music to perfection and feels perfectly authentic.  Looking every inch the rock stars, in Stetsons, beards, bandanas and tattoos, Gray and E Moncrieff produce a thick, soupy, humid sound that is redolent of swamps, mangroves, snakes and sweat.  It’s a primal, stripped back affair, driven by dark slinky slide on a cigar-box guitar, crashing percussive beats and shared vocals, the unconventional instrumentation making for an unusual, although never less than captivating whole. 

‘Hold On’ from their “Storms, Rum, Liars and Guns” EP, is a perfect distillation of this approach; hypnotic and swirling, it casts a dark spell over the Gorilla crowd, who are very quickly won over by the brothers’ easy going and engaging charms.  And the sometimes slightly mystical air to their performance is only heightened by the occasional use of the theremin; often used as something of a gimmick, here it is deployed brilliantly, adding an extra, almost other-worldly texture to those songs where it is used.  Equally, ‘This is Hell’ has a wonderfully plaintive refrain, and a deliciously dark groove; brilliantly impassioned, like the whole set, the percussion is played in a wildly inventive way that you’ve never seen before.  It is this willingness to be different and use whatever it takes to make their music, that makes The Dusk Brothers such an intriguing live act.

One of the last songs of their set had the brilliant lyric “Rock stars, god’s gift to sinners” which the audience enthusiastically sings along with.  With a new album “Roses in the Bone Cart” due very soon, and headline dates to follow, it seems that the future is looking bright for these musical renegades and no doubt many of tonight’s audience, will be going along with them for the ride. 

A circle of blue lights, appears on the digital screen behind the stage, spinning and fragmenting before crystallising into When Rivers Meet’s logo, the band getting a wildly enthusiastic ovation before they’ve even played a single note, from a crowd now swollen exponentially to what must be close to capacity.  This is the Aces are High tour, promoting the album of the same name, which having already achieved nationwide success by hitting the top ten of the UK official album chart, is played in its entirety.  And whilst, as you would expect there are loads of When Rivers Meet tees on display in the crowd, there’s also a Motorhead and a Bring Me the Horizon tee here, a Millie Manders and the Shut Up one over there, illustrating how the band’s appeal manages to cut across genres and styles. 

This is blues rock for the 21st century; combining power with finesse and delicacy, Grace Bonds’s voice is the perfect vehicle to take the crowd on an emotional trip, powerful and stirring in one breath, delicate and fragile the next.  It’s an utterly, beguiling combination, married to husband Aaron’s, superlative guitar work, producing moments of both crowd-pleasing upbeat joy and tender emotion at various points.  Blues can soothe, can provoke, can excite or can tear your heart out and tonight When Rivers Meet hit every one of those emotional beats and more.   

Whether it be Grace’s soulful vocals, complementing Aaron’s virtuoso guitar licks, on the dramatic, stop-start of ‘Seen It All Before’ or the sumptuously atmospheric ‘A Dead Man Doesn’t Lie’ with its gothic visuals, the quality of the songwriting and the performances never falters. Grace and Aaron are joined by a rock-solid rhythm section on bass and guitar, although all the musicians on stage are prodigiously talented multi-instrumentalists.  At various times, the bass player, swaps to lead guitar and keyboards, the drummer plays acoustic guitar, and that’s before you consider Grace and Aaron’s constant changing of instruments.  This incredible versatility must surely be one of the keys to the bands success as it allows for such a broad canvas upon which the band can paint their soundscapes. 

And it’s when the band open up and explore what they are capable of that they really soar. ‘Eye of the Hurricane’ sees the band again swapping instruments, all four sat on cases, allowing Aaron to take centre stage, both literally and vocally. This sets up some gorgeous vocal duetting between Aaron and Grace in a heartfelt, passionate and understated (if that isn’t a contradiction in terms) performance that is thoroughly enchanting with the underpinning music sweeping and epic and almost proggy, like a bluesy Pink Floyd…. 

And just when you thought that the high watermark for passion and poignancy had been reached, ‘By Your Side’ takes things to a whole other level.  The emotional centrepiece of the whole set, the intensity of the connection between the musicians is tangible, the song a thing of shimmering, tender fragility that is genuinely touching, and holds the crowd in its embrace.  It’s that rarest of things, a moment of transcendental beauty that makes even the most stoic of music fans reach for their partners and hold them tight.  It’s utterly beautiful and will no doubt live long in the memory. 

If Blues rock is your thing then When Rivers Meet will surely already be on your radar (and if they’re not, you should address that immediately) but even if you don’t consider yourself a fan of the genre, there is plenty here for anyone who loves brilliantly played, written and performed music.  Few bands have the ability to genuinely move you, but tonight that’s precisely what When Rivers Meet did… 

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
When Rivers Meet, Dusk Brothers