For Canadian band Bywater Call, their concert on Sunday (13 October) was the band’s third appearance in the last two years at Bonn Harmonie. Their dual billing in March 2023 supporting Robert Jon & The Wreck was definitely one of the best concerts of last year. The Rokpalast show with Eddie 9volt in October 2023 cemented the Band in Bonn Blues-lovers’ hearts, and here we are, almost exactly a year later and they are finally getting a whole evening to themselves. It turned out to be well worth the wait, as the extra stage time really did give the band a chance to warm up and stretch out – to devastating effect.
Formed in 2017, Bywater Call has been picking up awards and nominations ever since. It’s true that in the early days, all attention was on the powerful vocals of Meghan Parnell and the tastefully executed guitar solos of Dave Barnes. In 2024 though It’s fair to say that the music is 10/10 from all seven of those band members. I loved in particular, the moments when keyboardist John Kervin got the spotlight – particularly his work on ‘Everybody Knows’, but that’s coming towards the end of the set, and there was so much great music to enjoy throughout, although the sound took a while to balance out. Maybe it was the band’s keenness that saw them over-throttle the sound early on, resulting in some distortion and feedback for short periods. I’m not even sure that counts as a minus point though, because it just underlined this band’s sheer power and exuberance.
The evening kicked off with ‘Sweet Maria’ a tried and trusted live classic from 2023’s ‘Beyond the doorway’ disc and it immediately set the style for the evening with its heavy Soul/Blues influences. It’s hard to believe they were only warming up at the time – but the bar for great music just kept getting higher and higher during the evening with each track and they were reaching it with ease. The same Soul/Blues style was already hitting harder by mid-set with ‘Shiver’ as Steve Dyte’s trumpet and Julian Nalli’s saxophone joined the groove.
I loved ‘Colors’ coming as it did so pared down musically after the band had been storming through the set. A powerful ballad that showcases how well Parnell can shift dynamics vocally with consummate ease from one stanza to the next.
‘Remain’ was a chance for Dave Barnes to weave some guitar magic as he conjured up a sultry sitar sound for Meghan to pick up and run with vocally, and what a stunningly powerful and emotive voice the lady has! Add a little smattering of sax for seasoning and we had the perfect recipe for musical magic as superb finger-picked slidework from Barnes on his big semi-hollow Gibson put the icing on the musical cake. “I remain!” – the final powerful sound of Parnell’s voice echoes around Bonn Harmonie. It doesn’t get better than this surely?
But that musical bar was still going up. Sax/guitar duels, trumpet guitar duels, sax, trumpet and guitar duels. All the things that the previous concerts with their limited set times split with other bands didn’t allow. We got to hear exactly what Bywater Call are truly capable of, and it’s so powerful that it’s scary!
The evening is closing down. Both band and audience are in musical sweaty heaven and the posts that bar for musical excellence sits on are now too short for the heights the band reach as a stomping ‘Holler’ sees Meghan wielding her tambourine with an ever-increasing force until finally she just throws it to the ground as the familiar riff of Led Zepps ‘Kashmir’ fills the air. She’s belting out the lyrics like a modern-day Janis Joplin, Kervin’s electric piano is sounding like a Wurlitzer – by now he’s standing up to play it. Amazing stuff.
Surely it couldn’t get any better? only time prevented us from finding out. If I enjoy the band I usually buy a CD after the show. Tonight I bought two. Need I say more?
