MK Stop 5: 3rd Degree Leburn @ The Bullingdon, Oxford (6 July 2009)

Despite Bryan Adams being in Oxford this evening, I preferred to plump for, on the basis of previous impressive acts from Dana Gillespie and Sharrie Williams, the Famous Monday Blues weekly party. Far from being dedicated to repetition of a single value without experimentation or renewal, my past visits have granted oracular voices; not sunken in pop sugar, nor treading over molten coals of extinguished blues spirits.

Tonight's performance is a slightly different proposition, changing the complexion to three guitarists, two vocalists, one drummer and additional percussion provided by Derome. If a burn is a type of injury that may be caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, light, radiation, or friction, then 3rd Degree Leburn are a type of lotion for soothing pains and prejudices out of the system. Like stirring freshly poured coffee, their mixture is full of strength and potency from the off, hitting the Bully's four walls with grace. One regular sports his delightfully long beard, but he's not stroking it, rather swaying side to side with the joyous blues that Leburn administer. The audience are freed from turgid spectating to dancefloor making by tracks one and two, both extracted from a forthcoming CD. Tune three, "Angel Without Wings" embeds the overriding theme of their songs: love with women. "Old Age Pension" guarantees that they have a sense of humour: "You know it's bad when all the bus stops look the same". It's not long before the guitar lines, like trails from jet planes, are cast long and disperse minus cloud cover; manna for the mind and feet.

The interval allows the drum kit to take refuge, the lights to be dimmed, and the candle-lit audience rows combing through the locks of time. Covering Bob Marley and The Wailers' mighty "Exodus", they display versatility that greases the wheels of this venue's machine, whereas a rendition of James Brown's "Sex Machine" ups the ante to take us into the finale of much applause. The most important part of a house are the people inside, and Leburn understand the implications of putting on a great show for every attendee.

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