Kris Barras Band

Hartlepool Supporters - 7th April.

Well, a sold-out Hartlepool Supporters were serving that “different gravy” again on Saturday; this time a larger portion at Kris & his band were invited back as headliners. And wow, how they’ve grown into it in the space of a year. Will Beavis and Elliott Blackler remain tight on drums and bass and keyboards now manned by the impressively bearded Josiah J Manning (who also produced the latest album).

The night kicked off with a capable, strong set from Ireland’s Blackwater Conspiracy who sounded something like The Quireboys dong Southern Rock; not a bad way to start an evening.

However, the night was Kris’ and he took full advantage, sandwiching new songs like Propane & Hail Mary in between his slightly older material from Lucky 13. Odd to note on the newer stuff, and maybe it’s just me, but there are vocal similarities with Jon Bon Jovi, but comparisons end there. As well as powering the usual Telecaster and Stratocaster, Kris showed an almost Rory Gallagher-like touch on a 6 string cigar-box guitar but didn’t do any Rory covers, opting instead for a Gary Moore-esque Stormy Monday (as if we need any more of those…) and a powerful All Along The Watchtower. That was toward the end of the set, but probably the highlight was Kris’ tribute to his late father, Watching Over Me which had Hartlepool on it’s feet as the last notes faded out.

That surely meant an encore from the band, and they duly obliged, closing the night with a romping Further On Down The Road which had “Pools” crowd baying for more “gravy”.

Kris’ star is certainly on the ascension after years of refining his craft down in the S.W and round Europe; the Mascot label deal may have come out of the blue, but on the strength of this showing, he’s proving he bloody well deserves it.