Review: Adrian Edmondson and the Bad Shepherds

IT screams of mid-life crisis to be sure, but there was actually no doubt Ade Edmonson knew what he was doing when he decided he wanted to form a band dedicated to perfoming punk covers in a folk style.

The Bad Shepherds [check out the back story here] took to the stage of the new Live Lounge nights at Baby Blue, launching the new evening on Sunday and kicking off their own tour. It was a reschedule and a new venue after some kind of management troubles cancelled a gig due to take place at the Cavern a couple of weeks earlier.

With musos on side including Maartin Allcock, formerly of Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull, and Troy Donockley, who I'm chuffed to say also plays the pipes in Finnish gothic metal band Nightwish, it's even better to say that it worked brilliantly.

The music is serious - versions of punk standards like I Fought the Law and No More Heroes, often veering off into accomplished folk jams, and it all sounds sublime (I am probably a folkie-in-waiting. And that's not even the most embarrassing disclosure I've made in print this week, as anyone who knows what I thought of the Empire's panto can tell you).

The comedy/ folk/ punk combo attracts a somewhat titchier crowd than when you're making fart jokes with Rik Mayall and being hit in the face with a variety of household objects, but the enthusiasm - from the crowd and from the stage - is the real deal.

Needless to say, like any good comedy/ folk/ punk combo the Bad Shepherds are up for a drink and a laugh and the odd re-write of a psalm ("Ade is my shepherd, I shall not wank", Edmondson giggles at one point). He is as good as a frontman and a host as you'd expect from the character you see on TV, easygoing and cheeky with a crowd, funny between songs, Holby City and Teenage Kicks are all forgiven, Mr Edmondson, I will always love you (still not the most embarrassing disclosure I've made in print this week).

Check out the band at www.thebadshepherds.com. You know you want to!
Thanks to Dave Evans for the pics from the Liverpool gig.

Watch a little taster/ documentary here: