Shane Smith and the Saints are a vibrant, dynamic band known for blending a diverse range of genres into their soul-stirring sound. Formed in Austin, Texas, this five-piece ensemble has been captivating audiences with their heartfelt lyrics and high-energy performances for a decade now.
Rooted in folk, rock, country, and americana influences, Shane Smith and the Saints have crafted a unique musical identity that defies easy categorisation. Their music tells stories of love, loss, and life’s adventures, often infused with a sense of spirituality and introspection and new album, ‘Norther' is perhaps their best to date. In the UK to appear at the Highways festival in London, the band also played the Gorilla club in Manchester – two very different and very contrasting venues and experiences.
As beautiful, ornate, historical and as cinematic as the Royal Albert Hall in London is, where Shane Smith and the Saints had spent the night before, I would take seeing the band in a hot, sweaty club over that experience any day of the week and Gorilla in Manchester fit that billing down to a tie. 500 or so people were squashed into this square room but the veracity and ferocity of their cheering, clapping and singing really meant it sounded like there could be two or three times that number present! Taking the stage with an elongated jam session part ‘The Mountain', part soundcheck, the band set the tone from the off. Shane Smith is a charismatic frontman and band leader who leaves it all up on the stage with every performance. He doesn't spend a great deal of time talking to the crowd or sharing anecdotes, instead he lets his music do the talking for him, but the intensity of his performances leave you in doubt how passionate he his about his songs.
The new ‘Norther' songs like ‘Adeline,' ‘It's Been a While' and ‘Book of Joe' have slotted into the bands' setlist with ease and feel right at home. Live, the songs take on a very rhythmic, often brooding feel which creates quite a hypnotic vibe alongside classics like ‘Hurricane' and ‘Hail Mary.' The double whammy shot of ‘Feather in the Wind,' followed by ‘Mountain Girl' had the crowd singing and dancing along with rapturous abandon and you could tell that the band settled into the show at this point, knowing they were playing to their ‘home crowd' and not a more curious, foreign festival crowd like they did at the Royal Albert Hall the night before.
There's not a lot of creative space available in small, sweaty rooms for songs like ‘All the Way,' so that was left off the setlist but instead we got the very cool ‘Quite Like You,' which dates back to the genesis of the band in 2009 and the beautiful ‘Right Side of the Ground,' which Smith explained had made its way back into the setlist and was a hauntingly impactful way to the start the encore.
The double pairing hit of ‘Dance the Night Away' and ‘Coast' is always a staple of any Shane Smith and the Saints show and it didn't disappoint in Manchester. The crowd jumped, danced and hollered out the lyrics to both songs, ‘Coast,' in particular, was particularly loud and brought a smile to the faces of the guys up on the stage. Further down the set, the run of ‘Fire in the Sky,' ‘Cocaine Habit' and ‘Fire in the Ocean' brought a rhythmic intensity to the show that echoed the great Grunge bands of the 90s in tone whilst remaining essentially Texan in spirit and sound.
The great thing about Shane Smith and Saints is that whilst Shane's vocals and charisma carry the show, Bennett Brown, the fiddle player and co-founder of the band, and guitarist Dustin Schaefer take it it turns to take the limelight with solos that are skilfully composed and expertly delivered. They sometimes even work in tandem, evoking visions of the great ‘twin guitar' metal bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest! This is the bands' USP, the thing that sets them aside from everyone else in the genre – their ability to play with the genre and not let it confine their creativity or live shows. Consequently, many of the songs were finished off with elongated outros and jam sessions that brought an incendiary closure and almost hypnotic, euphoric feeling that was reflected in the decibel count response from the Manchester crowd!
Finishing the set with the anthemic ‘All I See is You,' the band left the stage, awash in smiles and dripping in sweat. Another gig played, another crowd rocked: hot, happy and shattered – just like the players themselves. It was a symbiotic experience in Manchester, the energy flowing both ways, like only the great gigs can do. There's no-one quite like Shane Smith and the Saints out there and the commercial success, Opry debuts and wider recognition is tantamount to the hard work and graft they put into every show and every release. They came, they saw, they conquered. Can't wait for them to be back.
Setlist: 1. Intro 2. Adeline 3. Book of Joe 4. Feather in the Wind 5. Mountain Girl 6. The Greys Between 7. Hurricane 8. Hail Mary 9. It's Been a While 10. Quite Like You 11. Dance the Night Away 12. Coast 13. Fire in the Sky 14. Cocaine Habit 15. Fire in the Ocean 16. Little Bird 17. Heaven Knows 18. Right Side of the Ground 19. What a Shame 20. All I See is You Venue: Gorilla, Manchester Date: May 18th 2024
