May 2015's Dad Gig: Alabama Shakes

This month’s band that are worth the price of a babysitter are Alabama Shakes – the three time Grammy nominated act who are appearing on just three occasions in the UK before heading back to their native USA.

Bearing more than a passing resemblance in sound to the brilliant Wild Beasts, Alabama Shakes have recently released an album, Sound & Color – the follow up to the gold-selling Boys & Girls – and you can hear it live in Birmingham, at the Great Escape festival in Brighton and at the Manchester Apollo before they hightail it back across the Atlantic.

Themes that regularly crop up in reviews of the band include ‘smooth’ and ‘grooves’, words which are usually combined to describe some awful R’n’B compilation being advertised between late Friday night Channel 4 nonsense, but in this case meant entirely positively and impossible to disagree with. Here’s the evidence, courtesy of latest single Don’t Wanna Fight:





It seems impossible to think that this accomplished, confident band were, only a few years ago, jobbing musicians playing covers in old people’s homes but, according to a quick Google, it appears to have been the case. Since then there have been songs on the soundtracks of Silver Linings Playbook and 12 Years a Slavenot to mention appearances on the hugest of chat shows in the US, which suggests that they could probably get away with doing even fewer UK dates next time round. Catch Alabama Shakes while you can:

  • Wednesday 13th May – O2 Academy, Birmingham.
  • Friday 15th May – Great Escape Festival, Brighton.
  • Saturday 16th May – O2 Apollo, Manchester.
About bewildereddad 401 Articles
I'm Jim Coulson, a West Yorkshire dad blogger, content writer and radio presenter who loves heading out around Yorkshire with my kids and exploring the best family activities.

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