We’re mid-way through the set at Bonn Harmonie. Danny Bryant lets his guitar hang down loose from his shoulder as he steps up to the microphone and introduces the song ‘Tougher Now’. “Two years ago I stopped drinking. I nearly died”, he says. Then he pulls the guitar back up to his chest and begins a song that came out of those dark days – ‘Tougher Now’. We are seeing a leaner a happier and indeed a tougher Danny Bryant from the last time I saw him here at Bonn Harmonie in 2019, and, as many a musician has found before him, the music hasn’t suffered or creativity dried up. Songs played from the new disc ‘Nothing Left Behind’ stand up against everything that went before.
The audience is maybe a bit sparser than normal by such concerts. A fault I’m sure of having two 30 Euro Blues/Rock concerts back to back. There’s a good smattering of faces I saw yesterday for RUF’s Blues Caravan though, along with new ones who maybe flipped coins between the shows and came out with tonight on top. Their reward was an excellent, sometimes quite emotional, evening of contemporary Bluesrock.
The biggest emotion came out of songs referring back to Bryant’s fight back against the alchoholic demons that threatened to end not just his creative career but his very life. But there is emotion in his performance throughout the evening and I don’t meain just from excellent guitar soloing, that has always been first class. It’s in the constant smiles that light up his face. It’s in the constant interplay both visually and musically with the band. The enjoyment of being completely there, in the moment and savouring it all. When he plays ‘Swagger’ early in the set their is indeed a swagger in the performance that says “I’m back, and loving every moment”.
Most moving of all the songs that he performed had to be ‘Enemy Inside’ from the new disc with it’s confession of addiction:
“I sold my soul for it. Gave my life for just one hit”
and it’s celebration of survival…
“I’m stronger now. I can face this enemy inside”
It’s a stand-out moment for sure, but there are many others this evening. ‘Guntown’ from 2014’s ”Temperature Rising’ despite being, a live favourite, came surprisingly early in the set. A new ballad ‘Just for You’ showed that Bryant has vocal talents to match his guitar and songwriting ones. ‘Rage to Survive’ sounds like it might have come from the latest release but is actually from 2021.
‘Redemption’ is primarily a rock song but has a staunch gospel tone to it, enhanced wonderfully by the keyboard of Jamie Pipe. This is a good time to mention that it’s great Danny has brought a keyboard player on tour – a good few bands are cutting back on costs by thinning out the sound. Pipe’s keys were one of the evening’s highlights, especially in the quieter moments. It’s not to be taken for granted that we have a ‘big band’ onstage tonight either in the form of Jakob Karg, Uli Binetsch and Niko Halfmann. There is plenty of oomph! to keep the audience on its toes and those toes tapping.
Additional guitar is also provided via Marc Raner who co-produced the new album Bryant. Raner stays mainly as background support to Bryant but shows he too knows his way around a fretboard especially on the instrumental ‘Unchained’. Raner’s involvement in the new Danny Bryant goes even deeper than guitar and production – he also co-wrote ‘Not like the others’ and gets music credits on several of the new tracks. If I also add the solid rhythm section of Artjom Feldtser (bass) and Alexander Hintz (drums) then it’s because if the evening’s emotional centrepoint was clearly a leaner and happier Danny Bryant, let’s not forget that he has a fantastic team of musicians backing him up on and offstage.
The first encore number pretty much had to be (or else a lot of fans would be a little disappointed) ‘Painkiller’. It’s a number that is sublimely simple for the most part but the devil is in the detail and the strength of the song’s powerful simplicity is in Danny Bryant’s often overlooked vocal ability and the embelishment provided by the solos – again wonderful work by Jamie Pipe stoking up the emotion.
Given the sentiments on sobriety of the set, ‘Till the bottle runs dry’ from 2021’s ‘Rage to Survive’ disc seemed like an odd song choice to end things on with it’s observation that “These blues won’t go, till the bottle runs dry” but hey, it’s a classic rock n roller of a song to finish the set on and send everyone, including Danny and the band, on their way. All of them happy I am sure. It really was a joy to see the new and definitely improved Danny Bryant live. The new album, says Danny in the sleevenotes from 2025, is all about moving forward one day at a time. Tonight’s show at the Harmonie shows he has already put some considerable distance between the past and the present.
