Amigo The Devil - Hoxton Hall, London 15.02.2020
For the second weekend in a row, the UK was in the grip of a named storm as the RGM team made their way to Hoxton Hall in London. The onset of Storm Dennis, which would bring driving rain and treacherous winds to the majority of the country wasn’t going to put us off and proved rather fitting as Amigo The Devil seems very comfortable with the dark and the desolate.
It was my first visit to Hoxton Hall, a grade II listed building that stands strong, in an unassuming high street, a mere stone’s throw from London’s bustling and hip Shoreditch area. The venue dates back to 1863 when it originally opened as a music hall but lost its license in the late nineteenth century. In the years that followed it would then see service as the Blue Ribbon Temperance Mission and latterly be utilized by the Quaker movement. These days the hall is a registered charity and is used as a performance space and community centre. The venue looks remarkably untouched from its early incarnation as a music hall with two levels of iron-railed galleries rising on three sides of the floor giving excellent views of the red velvet curtained stage. It’s a terrific venue and I hope I’ll get the chance to revisit soon.
On entering singer-songwriter Boss Caine was nearing the end of his set. it’s difficult to pass judgement, as I only caught a couple of songs, but the flat-capped troubadour sounded good and held the attention of an appreciative crowd - which is no mean feat when first up on a three-act bill - so I'm hopeful I'll get the chance to check out Mr Caine again soon. Filling the middle slot on the bill was Christian Hede who opened with ‘Slow Pain’ which showcased his impressive voice. He then joked that we wouldn’t be able to understand the rest of his set as he would be performing in his native Danish. Christian is to be commended for performing in his mother tongue and helpfully added good-natured explanations/introductions to each song for those of us whose Danish is a little on the limited side “this song is about peace which usually makes me feel a little sick, it’s hard to write about such things, but you’ll all be fine as you won’t understand it” he quipped. Throw in some impressive acoustic slide guitar playing and I've got feeling that whatever Christian Hede does next will be well worth checking out.
I’ve been going to gigs since the early 80s, and I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever seen an artist go down as well as Amigo The Devil did at Hoxton Hall. Tonight’s crowd was predominately black-clad, tattooed and metal t-shirted as you’d probably expect, but many in attendance knew every word to every song and would have still been at school when Danny Kiranos became Amigo The Devil and released his first EP in 2010. Amigos’ music has been dubbed ‘Murderfolk’ and it deals with plenty of dark subjects. He digs deep into the psyche of modern America with subject matter such as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, spousal abuse and the Jonestown Massacre. It all sounds very bleak but amazingly it’s not. Amigo has a wide-eyed enthusiasm and humour which he brings to bear on every tale he tells no matter how dark and delivers them with his powerful voice and no little banjo/guitar dexterity. Often a song would reach its crashing conclusion with a finale that was equal parts effects-driven mayhem and live electricity (his mic stand was hot all night by the sound of it) which seemed somehow fitting.
Amigo broke up his tales with snippets of Slayer’s Angel of Death and Dio’s Holy Diver, which proved great fun. He was having a ball as he freewheeled through his set and I'm pleased to report Tom Jones’ classic ‘Delilah’ really is a murder ballad when stripped of its production sheen. As I mentioned earlier the majority of the crowd did know every word, which rubbed off on the rest of us as we all sang boisterously, wishing ill of husbands (an Amigo The Devil gig necessity). When Amigo did dial things back a little with a serious look at the effects of depression or self-harm - ‘First Day of the End of My Life’ is particularly striking - he had a hushed crowd in the palm of his hand. This is when Amigo The Devil is most at one with his audience and they with him, his songs deal with issues that will be familiar to many in a relatable way and his songcraft is as strong as you’ll find anywhere. As we left the venue a good thirty minutes after Amigo left the stage he was still signing autographs, posing for selfies and chatting to folks. Beneath the dark humour and the often even darker subject matter, there is a real connection between Amigo and his audience which was a joy to behold. You get the feeling that Amigo The Devil is making a difference to people in a positive way and you don’t get to experience that very often.
2018’s ‘Everything Is Fine’ was one of that year's finest releases and marked Danny Kiranos aka Amigo The Devil as one to watch. ‘Everything Is Fine' is a terrific record full of dark imagery unhindered by genre stereotypes. It might not be quite everyone’s cup of tea but if you like a good murder ballad delivered by a heavily bearded man with a banjo then ‘Everything Is Fine’ could well become your go-to album. As it turned out the album only told half the story as the RGM team found on our last but one pre lockdown night out in February of 2020. The Amigo The Devil live experience is something else entirely, ‘Everything Is Fine’ is a fantastic record but put ATD on a stage and the results are very special. In forty years of gig-going, I’ve rarely seen an artist connect with an audience in the same way as ATD. The subject matter might often be jet black but ATD is not without humour and his followers appreciate the honesty within and can relate to his grasp of the daily problems we all face, and how we deal with those problems that have, in many cases, been exaggerated by the world around us in 2021.