With two support bands, mostly noisy and hard rockers, Canada’s Bywater Call took the stage at Dingwall’s in Camden on a high. From the very off they were on the button, true quality and a band with a complete mastery of their music.
The crowd sure got their money’s worth as front lady and singer, Meghan Parnell, worked her way through a selection of songs from the latest release, ‘Shepherd’, and earlier albums. Backed by the full-throttle band, including horns, bass, guitar, drums and keys, her vocal delivery is rich, strong and passionate.
In truth, it was hard to see how they managed to keep going as the night drew to a close with the band – and almost everyone there – melting in the heat and the sadly too-small stage crammed to bursting with so many great band members and instruments. Known for her generally bubbly, joyful dancing and romping around, Parnell was sadly constrained by the area on offer but nonetheless successfully pulled off the trick of keeping powerfully on-track throughout the set, with an audience pretty much eating out of her musical hand.
Make no mistake, Bywater Call is a band making huge waves on the international music scene and this superb performance can only have cemented their position as one of those bands to watch and a performance that may well prove to be one of the finest of the year at the Camden Blues Club.
WORDS: Iain Patience
IMAGES: Michael Parker
