ShareThe Dead South performing their Chains & Stakes World Tour at Rock City Nottingham on Wednesday 19th March 2025.
Images and Review by Kevin Cooper
The Dead South, the four piece from Regina Saskatchewan Canada, whose high energy take on bluegrass has won them deserved plaudits, are back on the road and on Wednesday night they played to a packed Rock City.
With the stage set with a facade of an old western town, they wasted no time in diving into their set starting with the energetic Snake Man Pt 1 and 2 from their 2019 album Sugar & Joy. With just a cello which was sometimes played like a bass guitar, a mandolin, an acoustic guitar and of course a banjo with a kick drum to occasionally hasten the pace, they followed up with 20 Mile Jump and Son Of Ambrose.
Their speciality is the abrupt tempo changes in their songs such as on Boots which started at a walking pace before accelerating to warp speed with Nate Hilts vocals immediately melting through the intricate banjo riffs and the mournful wail of a cello that entertained the excitable crowd. The Recap opened with Scott Pringle’s gentle picking before the other three joined in with a string whirlwind whilst the genius that was Black Lung earned widespread foot stomping.
That Bastard Son and Tiny Wooden Box showcased the band’s performance prowess with synchronised movements across the stage and positive crowd sing alongs punctuating the second half of the set as the band clearly moved into their more famous songs. They closed with the predictably amazing In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company and Honey You, a fitting finishing song to the main set with a stellar cello solo and a burst of energy.
The encore started with the instrumental Clemency and its overlapping instruments before Completely Sweetly utilised the kick drum again to great effect. Broken Cowboy was given an airing before the cataclysmic Banjo Odyssey completed the show.
The Dead South are four highly skilled musicians who excel in showmanship delivering a grizzled and unique spectacle that took this crowd back in time to dusty one horse towns and they loved every bit of it.