On a beautiful Hobart winter’s Thursday, Amigo The Devil (aka Danny Kiranos) brought his ‘murder-folk’ brand of song-writing to the stage of Altar Bar. One year on from his previous tour to Australia, he once again returned, this time hitting bigger stages and ensuring he made it to every corner of the country. A crowd of over 200 adoring fans turned out to Altar Bar, and were glued to a performance full of the dark, yet often, amusing subject matter for which he has become such a drawcard around the world.
Aside the lyrical content of his songs, it is notable how well he works a crowd into a fever pitch, as evidenced early on in his set when he performed crowd favourite, Murder At the Bingo Hall, having them sing along on full note, and again later when he breaks out I Hope Your Husband Dies, leaving the crowd in two minds as to whether the song is true, or myth.
The remarkable thing to note about this tour is the fact that it was only back in June of this year that he lost his entire home, along with hours and hours of demos, unfinished songs and all of his artworks destroyed in a devastating house fire, a truly unfortunate talking point he returns to on a number of occasions thoughout the evening, albeit with a large slice of gallows humour. He had also dislocated his shoulder earlier in the tour, and on this evening, had tripped on some stairs and hit his head prior to coming on stage. Despite all of these mishaps, Amigo The Devil prevailed in a wonderful evening of entertainment that few will ever forget.
If you have never seen (or heard) Amigo the Devil, I thoroughly recommend that you take any opportunity to do so……you won’t be disappointed.
Amigo The Devil Gallery:
The support act was none-other than Amigo The Devil’s bandmate and guitarist, David Talley.
His was a set full of sad, though highly-entertaining, country-infused ballads, and like Amigo himself, has a wonderful ability to draw the audience in to his world with not only his great song-writing, but his between songs banter which are infused with sly humour. His story about his mother being worried about him singing the words to a brilliant Limp Biskit cover he performs, Break Stuff, is comedic gold.
The set was the perfect scene setter for what was to follow, and ensured the night went down as unforgettable.
David Talley Gallery:
Thanks go to Destroy All Lines for this tour, and opportunity to review/photograph.
All images: ©fullonrockphotography/Andrew Fuller
