Stripping away the full band set up for the main event, The Wilson Pickers took the stage for one of their first outings as a foursome. With Ben Salter recently leaving the group to focus on a solo album, the band didn’t seem too fussed, and had the entire audience up and dancing within the first moments of openers Can’t Steal My Love and Little Old Man.
With two albums in the can, the set seemed to be a move away from being peppered with the band’s cover material. Although these covers are fantastic, it was good to the group focusing on their two original albums. With a full swag in tow of these originals, the set went right through tracks from both Land Of The Powerful Owl, and Shake It Down, with the only obvious omittance being Ben Salter’s contributions. Although the four ‘Pickers have managed to truck on without Ben, there were occasions where his high tenor and banjo was missed, as without him the voices remaining all carry the lower-to-mid range of the harmony scale. It took myself and a few audience members to fill these duties on songs such as How Long, which really missed his contribution, and Half A Man, in which Sime stepped up to – quite easily – sing Ben’s lead break.
That said, if you hadn’t known the band before Ben’s departure, the amount of dancing and hollering going on at the Northcote was a large thumbs up to the group as a foursome. The addition of upright bass on most of the set also received welcome from many ears, with the bass really helping to carry the tunes and fill out the bottom end, and something we’ll be seeing more of it in future shows. Cheers again ‘Pickers, here’s to said future shows.
