The Commoners, 100 Club, London 2025 – Words and Photos by Dawn Osborne

The Commoners playing the historic venue the 100 club: Blues rock fans knew that this was likely to be a special evening and, as I arrived, there was a long queue waiting to get in before the doors even opened.

Candar the indie-rock duo opened up. Singer-songwriter and guitarist Ella Crossland is super young and smiley in a green sequinned skater dress to compliment her green Gibson guitar that looks enormous in comparison to her.

Drummer Finn McAuley, another spring chicken, looked full of enthusiasm and joy as he beat his drums with style and panache. Maybe a little too hard as while the band made a very pleasant sound together ranging from gentle melodies to full on rockin levels, I couldn’t really hear any of the lyrics, not even in the choruses. I am not familiar with their material as they are a little outside my wheelhouse, but the only time I had a clue what a song was about were when they specifically announced a title such as ‘Opera’ telling it was about being dramatic. Maybe Finn needs an acoustic shield in front of his drum kit, as I would really have likely to have understood more.

Having said that they were really popular with the crowd who were keen to give them as much encouragement as possible. And they are both so sweet and earnest, it really is impossible to want to criticise them.  I’d say their songs are more about the vibe, rather than a traditional memorable chorus and Crossland’s vocal delivery reminded me a little of Paris Paloma who I saw perform at Hyde Park supporting Stevie Nicks.

There were no problems however hearing Chris Medhurst with his powerful vocals above the mighty Rock ‘n’ Roll sound of The Commoners. The band has developed a bit of a cult following in the UK and a faithful legion of hard core fans.

It’s amazing how quickly some of their songs have become recognisable classics giving them a rich setlist of material to play.  ‘Restless’ only improved on their first album ‘Find A Better Way’ and this was recognised in the proportion of seven songs from the former, compared with three from the latter, but they also managed to play four new songs a couple of which were never heard live in the UK before this tour. Apparently they have about 27 songs ready for a new album and no doubt are road testing a few to see how they go down.

Not sure what it was exactly, but as they took to the stage Chris looked tense or maybe even slightly annoyed, whatever it was they are consummate professionals and always deliver, but it did take a few tracks for them to relax into the groove. They kick off with favourites ‘Gone Without Warning’ and ‘The Way I Am’ before trialling a new one ‘Runnin’ Blind’. With it’s big riffs, it’s a fast paced Rocker with a hint of old fifties Rock ‘n’ roll about it and a very promising look into what the new album may hold.

 

They followed up with the new single ‘Just Watch Me’ which starts off more laid back and alternated between pared back verses, and Black Crowes style choruses delivered in a more frantic earnest style with demonstrative gestures to emphasize each phrase.

It’s then back to 2022 and ‘Too Much’ with an instrumental interlude before Chris is back playing additional guitar for the string of absolute belters ‘Devil Teasin’ Me’, ‘Too Soon To Know You’, ‘Restless’ and ‘See You Again’ from their last album. These really are some of the best songs the band has ever done and after delivering storming track after storming track the band begins to relax.

By the time he is performing another brand new song ‘Searchin’ Chris is really into the zone, singing his heart out and eyeballing the crowd very much on the front foot.

Another new song ‘Ghost On The Highway’ was differently arranged from the way it was performed at Call Of The Wild changing from a straightforward hard rock song to a more countrified Black Crowes style version with an extended Lynyrd Skynyrd style solo from Ross Citrullo to make it much more Southern Rock sounding.

Chris is back with an electric Gibson for a soulful version of ‘Fill My Cup’ with a Bluesy solo played with real feeling by Ross and it’s straight into the last song of the main set ‘Find A Better Way’.

While the rest of the band left the stage, Chris stayed on stage and encouraged the crowd to whoop and holler to get the others back. Finally he concedes they made him death and the others return for a rollicking version of ‘Shake You Off’.

The Commoners played a great gig tonight before an enthusiastic crowd and it proved to be a great evening. It was great to get an insight into new music on the way while hearing all the great songs from them that we know and love. Afterwards Chris told me that they are looking to come back to the UK maybe with some more festivals next year to support the new album. Music to our ears.

Dawn Osborne