Celebrated Canadian Roots Rock band The Commoners recently played London's iconic 100 Club halfway through their ten-date December Ghosts On The Highway headline tour. Although, unfortunately the guys had to cancel their final two shows in Guildford and Portsmouth as frontman Chris Medhurst had a lung infection. We wish Chris well.

Special guests tonight were North Devon Alt-Rock duo Candar. In contrast to the headliner's, they were sweet, but subversive candy. Visually, Ella Crossland and Finn McCauley could be any clean cut 20’s post grad couple. But they're so not. Intelligent and driven by their sound and music, beautiful blonde Ella was wearing a short sequinned dress, while Finn was clean cut to match and handsome. Indeed, they could in fact be a very bland musical couple, until you scratch the surface, as their deep raw sound is anything but vanilla.

Firstly, there was Ella’s Gibson ES335 big block retro which had a hard driving tonality. It was a beast of a guitar against Crossland’s slight frame. Very incongruous. Then there was Finn on drums, thrashing and smashing it away. Despite Ella's scrumptious vocals, compositionally their chords had at times a harder edge. Ella cites her influences as Jack White, Band of Skulls and Alanis Morissette, which came across loud and clear this evening, given the complex feel and texture of this original set.

The dynamism and vibe on stage between the striding Ella and her musical partner Finn, was very plain to see, as they included 'Turned Blood Red', 'Glitz and Glamour', the dramatic 'Opera', their single 'Wallflower', Do You See Me', 'Flower in a Gun' and 'Girl You See'. Indeed, I really enjoyed Candar’s delicious musical offering tonight, which I found tantalising. I will definitely see the again!

Meanwhile, experienced, accomplished Toronto based quintet, The Commoners, deliver anything but commonality in their sound and stagecraft! Full of Southern Rock, spanning Classic Rock, Blues and Soul, tonight they were perfectly suited to the rawer atmosphere of this legendary venue. In a hard driving set, varied in tone, we witnessed pure Rock 'n' Roll moves and grooves, fronted by mean guitar player Medhurst, who so owned the long stage and worked it on fire with his vocals.

Ross Hayes Citrillo also on guitar, ramped it up with his riffs and rocked it . Ben Spiller spilled out his bass lines with a Rock God stance and attitude. Adam Cannon nailed it, smashed it and sweated it out on drums. While Miles Evans was cool, adding to the Southern Rock stage party on keys. The crowd loved it, as did I, as well as superfans Kyla and Griff, who had come a long way to witness this.

Intelligent rich lyrics, about love and life, fermented through the set like bourbon soaking my Rock soul. 'The Way I Am', the unreleased 'Runnin' Blind‘, 'Just Watch Me', 'Devil Teasin’ Me', 'Too Soon to Know You', 'See You Again' and another unreleased gem, 'Searchin', all did it for me for different reasons. 'Ghosts On the Highway' too. In fact every one of their numbers tonight deserved a repeat listen, as did their encore, 'Shake You Off', a fitting ending to an incendiary performance, where we got to know these cool dudes musically up close.

Indeed, they’ve supported the likes of Samantha Fish at much larger venues, but here at The 100 Club you were drawn into their magnetic sound. So if you like your Classic Rock to Southern Soul infused with some harder edged, still melodic, but not over manic, then you will love these guys. Superb songs and great ultimate individuality, so I’m looking forward to their continued uncommon musical evolution! Please return to the UK soon - rest assured I will be back for more!

Review, Video and Photos: Denise Lester