Having recently completed a 20-date UK and Ireland tour promoting his latest 'Buried Alive' live double album, recorded at various venues across Europe and the UK, featuring both electric and acoustic tracks from all three of Dom’s original studio albums, as well as ahead of an 8-date UK acoustic tour kicking off at the end of April, multi-award-winning artist Dom Martin still managed somehow to find the time to stop off at London's Dingwalls on Wednesday evening!

Despite Dom winning our 2023 WRC Best Blues Rock award, as well as many WRC reviews over past years praising Belfast's finest, I hold my hands up and admit that this was indeed the first time I'd seen him live, not for the want of trying to be fair, although it would be churlish to say it was worth waiting for, but tonight, as it turned out, I was lucky enough to experience the best of both worlds with a solo acoustic and a full band set.

A similar format to that of last July's gig at London's The 100 Club, Martin made his way on to to the red/pink tinged stage with warm applause from the early arrivals, sitting down on his stool with his trusty acoustic guitar to hand, loosening up with a great take on his (almost) namesake John Martyn OBE's, 'Discover The Lover', which was followed by another delicious cover of Jelly Roll Morton's Blues ballad, 'Jelly Roll Baker'. The intimacy of this set was palpable, as was Martin's vocal on 'Haunted', an as yet unrecorded track by Dom, who posed the question whether he should record it, the response from those gathered being an unsurprising unanimous yes!

And talking of delightful surprises, no way was I expecting to walk on 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' tonight, as Martin reeled off a sublime cover of Pink Floyd's 'Breathe (In The Air)', before his only recorded original, and the penultimate from this short set, 'Easy Way Out', taken from 2019's 'Spain To Italy', with its to-die-for guitar outro. As alluded to earlier, Dom's quality banter with his fans added an extra dimension to such an enjoyable first set, as he poignantly recalled going to a Ralph McTell gig with his Dad, before closing out with McTell's classic, 'Last Train And Ride'. "The headline band are much better", Martin joked as he left the stage. We shall see Dom. We shall see!

After a well earned break, Dom was now joined by his right hand man and regular bass player Ben Graham, plus "young" Charlie on drums, who unbelievably was playing his first gig with the band. Tipped off earlier by my partner in crime that tonight's set list looked very like the one that blew him away at London's The Water Rats last November, my expectations were further heightened! Indeed, kicking off with the rocky 'Unhinged', Martin unleashed his guitar wizardry on this electrifying, Hendrix influenced opening track from his latest studio album 'Buried In The Hail', and followed it up with another from said album, the gloriously slower Blues of 'Lefty 2 Guns', apparently based on a hitman!

The bangin', foot stompin', stunning slide Blues of 'Daylight I Will Find', was not only further evidence of the strength of this acclaimed 2023 release, but now with such a strong back catalogue, perhaps this means less of reliance of including covers in future sets, although, don't get me wrong, they are still very welcome! The third single released from 'Buried In The Hall', 'Belfast Blues', with its Johnny Winter vibe, was absolute magic, that saw Martin's fingers weaving a spell, with another fine slide solo. Going back to 'Spain To Italy' and 'Hell For You', dedicating it to "Psychos everywhere", Dom's choice to perform this beautiful, spine tingling slow Blues on electric guitar, as opposed to the original's acoustic, was yet another triumph.

Martin's comparison to the late, great, Rory Gallagher, is well documented, and in some people's opinion, Dom is arguably the only musician worthy to play Rory’s music. Anyway, cue the trio's incredible Blues take on Taste's 'Railway And Gun', followed by Gallagher's 'Used To Be', both of which would no doubt have seen Rory looking down and nodding in approval. Returning to 'Buried In The Hail' for the final time tonight, next up was 'Howlin', of which this outstanding Blues jam is also featured on the aforementioned 'Buried Alive' live double album and was written in memory of Howlin' Wolf.

And talking of whom, following an awesome and extremely faithful recreation of The Jimi Hendrix Experience's 'Little Wing', the band backed this up with another classic, often associated with Howlin' and Willie Dixon, but for tonight's mouthwatering performance of 'Spoonful', it was based around Cream's take from their 1966 debut, ‘Fresh Cream’. Finally, they closed this memorable set with three big hitters. Beginning with 'Blues On The Bay', the first number to be aired tonight from Dom's 2022 album, 'A Savage Life', that segued into a twenty-minute instrumental monster with 'Spain To Italy's 'Dixie Black Hand', showcasing outstanding solos from each member of this Blues Rock Power trio, as well as their encore, the Heavy Hard Rock of '12 Gauge', another from 'A Savage Life'.

Indeed, Dom wasn't far wrong in the end. The main band were slightly better, but we're still looking forward to seeing that acoustic support guy again on Wednesday 7th May at The Half Moon in Putney. Seriously, don't miss him!

AJ