Pete Williams with Andy Wellings
DJ's Woodenhand and Prehistoric Man
The Outsideleft Night Out
1000 Trades in the Park
Lightwoods House
B E A R W O O D
Pete Williams is a generational songwriter, his captivating musical memoirs are a stellar creative non-fiction; stories of spiked dreams, big talkers and beautiful but resilient losers. These are the lives of the men and women—you'll find them in every community, who refuse to keep to the ordained path. He’s been singing of these people since he stepped off that preodrained working class path decades ago, with punk rock and his role in founding Dexys Midnight Runners. He writes his protaginists with an engagingly careworn generosity and affection, maybe at times a little more John Fante than Willy Vlautin, but the parallels are there (hear 'People' below) and truly, What's not to love?
It was fitting that The Outsideleft Night Out, sidelined by the collapse of Corks club in the summer, was restored with the most sparkling live set from Pete, who lives locally—accompanied by long-time perfect foil, the great—at moments gnarly, at moments melodious—guitarist Andy Wellings, at our new home, 1000 Trades on the Park. The evening would not have been complete without superb and essential DJ sets from favourites, Woodenhand and Prehistoric Man.
There was a lovely moment following the soundcheck, where Pete walked up home to get his good shirt and trousers on for the show...
I can’t emphasise enough, the 50 people who saw Pete Williams perform on Saturday, are a fortunate and privileged few. Pete's ability to animate a crowd and feed into and from the intimacy of a venue and an audience—virtually standing on his toes—created an incomporable vibe. The magic was tangible. What a giant, giant voice. I mean, ultimately, it's just a couple of dudes with guitars... How do they do it? I have seen Pete play a fair few times before, but is it okay for me to say, I wasn't prepared for him to be that great. After two encores audience still didn't want to let him go... Oh and this is like the royal He, because this is very much the Pete and Andy show.
An essential element of the Outsideleft Night Out are the DJ sets from Prehistoric Man (left) and Woodenhand (right)... Brilliant as ever!
Pete Williams will provide a contrasting and unmissable full band show at the Mac Arts centre in Birmingham on Friday December 13th. (Check here for tickets/info) - it'll sound something like this...
NEXT
A chilled down Outsideleft Night Out will be around with DJ's Woodenhand, Agata Makiela, Prehistoric Man + special guests at 1000 Trades on New Years Eve. Outsideleft Night Out returns in 2025 with audio-visual thrills provided by John Peel favorites, Jackdaw with Crowbar on Saturday January 25th.
Essential Information
Images on this page by Oona
Pete Williams' website is here
Super sound & lights for the show, thanks Harvey! (With assidious help from Neil.)
Forthcoming Outsideleft Night's Out at 1000 Trades on the Park in Bearwood:
New Years Eve with Woodenhand and Prehistoric Man and more...
Saturday January 25th, with the audio-visual thrills provided by John Peel favorites, Jackdaw with Crowbar
