William The Conqueror at The Half Moon - 2nd of February 2018

I finally got to my first gig of 2018! Just about 3 weeks after I featured them the band in my Americana post I saw William the Conqueror were playing at London's famous Half Moon. The Half Moon opened in 1963 and has seen acts including Elvis Costello, The Rolling Stones, and The Who grace its stage.

I hadn't listened to William the Conqueror's latest album, Proud Disturber Of The Peace, before the gig so I was interested to see how much of the set I would recognize. As it turned out, only one song from their EP I bought a couple of years ago makes it onto the album. But that song, Tend To The Thorns, was the biggest crowd-pleaser of the night.

Before getting to far into the gig, I should mention the opening act: Kate Ellis. Ellis sings and plays guitar and was performing with two other artists: Andy Hobsbawn on lead guitar and Joseph Paxton on fiddle and melodica duties. No drums or bass gave the set a stripped down feel that worked well as her songs were mostly country ballads. The talent of all three musicians was very much on show - every song they played was perfect and although I would be lying if I said I wasn't apprehensive when Ellis announced a Nine Inch Nails song made famous by Johnny Cash, their rendition of Hurt was extremely well done. At times they were swinging more like Cash's cover of Personal Jesus and along with Hobsbawn's slide playing it was an exceptional version - different enough to be their own without sacrificing the essence of the Man in Black's interpretation. With the exception of Hurt, all the songs played came from her June 2017 album Carve Me Out, and I highly recommend giving Don't Lie To Me and I Believe a Listen.

After Kate Ellis, William The Conqueror - Ruarri Joseph on vocals and guitar, Harry Hardy on backing vocals and drums, and finally Naomi Holmes on backing vocals and bass - came roaring on stage. It was a great contrast to Kate Ellis' style and they kept up the energy for their whole set. Especially impressive was Harry Hardy's drumming. It was frantic but right on the beat, after a couple of the songs finished I was a bit worried he was about to collapse on his kit.

The band shortly after coming on stage

I've already discussed why I like the band's recordings so much, and I was pleased to see their stage show was just as impressive. Most of what they played was faster and grittier than the studio versions, lacking contribution of the various session musicians on their records. Live, their songs sounded more like Kings of Leon on their first records, and that is a high compliment from me. As I mentioned at the start of this review, Tend To The Thorns was the biggest crowd-pleaser, but each and every song was well received. I was especially impressed by Cold Ontario, from the new album, it was gritty and catchy with a tinge of melancholy that separated it from the rest of the set.


Both Kate Ellis, and William the Conqueror had been at the UK Americana Awards the night before and, I think, were feeling a little worse for wear. Ruarri told the audience that passing through the Travelodge lobby that evening they ran into an impromptu Robert Plant jam session. I guess the nice hotels are still off limits after Plant’s Led Zeppelin escapades... Although the band did an amazing job making it through their set without the night before showing, I have to admit I’ve never seen such a vigorous encore request met with such ambivalence. Not to say that William the Conqueror shirked their duty - they played two more songs just as well as they had the rest of the set - but the audience wanted another 10!


To say performers left it all on stage is a bit of a cliche, but by the time Ruarri and company left the stage, I’m genuinely not sure they had another song in them. And from a small band just making waves in the scene that’s probably what you want to see. William the Conqueror’s upcoming dates can be found here, go buy a ticket, you won’t be disappointed!