Danny Vaughn/This House We Built – The Cluny Newcastle 3rd December 2022

If you’ve been paying attention to Mr Vaughn’s social media at all prior to this tour, then you’ll know that despite having an ‘Oz’ in the band the real wizard behind the THWB curtain is a certain Mr Vaughn who was that taken with the band that he broke open the little black book of contacts and turned everyone he knew onto arguably the best kept secret in the business.

Opening with a healthy dose of vitamin drop D tuning ‘Fairweather Friend’ soon has a healthy crowd singing along, the smiles on what are clearly THWB friends and family was a joy to behold as they watched there loved ones finally get the recognition they so richly deserve. Radio friendly rockers ‘Nobody’s Fool’ and ‘Walk the Line’ are up next and again go over well with the now swelling crowd. A slight slowing of pace for the sentimental ‘There She Stands’ allows everyone to catch their breath a little before the gents come out swinging again with the positively bombastic ‘Back in the Ring’. With a now near capacity crowd of new friends ‘My Old Friend’ allows THWB to bow out of the evening’s proceedings (for now!) on a real high and it’s over to the main man himself, Danny Vaughn.

For a gentleman that’s now in decade number five of live performances Mr Vaughn shows absolutely no signs of easing up anytime soon. The voice is strong and clear, the spirit centred and soothing, the hands quick and skilful whilst the trademark hair is now resplendent showing wisdom highlights that would rival Gandalf. In this acoustic setting (my favourite vehicle for his vocals) Vaughn would proceed to offer an evening of unconditional tranquillity and soul fulfilling attainment.

With the walls of the Cluny still echoing with the cheers for new friends THWB an old and dear friend of the venue strolls onto the stage, grabs a guitar and begins a serenade set list that covers eleven albums, six vehicles of Vaughn vocals and every emotion you care to mention. Opening with a real acoustic rarity in ‘Meet Me in the Night’ Vaughn and the Cluny choir are immediately on their A-game as colours clash and fly with reckless abandon and the tone is set for the most magical of evenings. It’s road trip time next as we ride shotgun with the five-minute, thousand mile, Toyota driving goodbye kiss that is ‘Kelly’s Gone’.

Having eased into the set with the melancholier side of love it’s time for the flipside and for me the best anti love song of my generation, this one needs to introduction…it’s the crowd pleasing, harmonic F-bomb anthem that’s ‘Is That All There Is’. Staying on the same album we weave our way into the spell binding ‘Soldiers and Sailors’, storytelling gold will about cover this one as the Northeast crowd are once again spirited away across the water to the East coast of Vaughn’s homeland. Up next is a tip of the melodic minstrel hat to the original incarnation of this tour, without the merest hint of irony it’s ‘Last Man Standing’ from the stunning Snake Oil & Harmony album Hurricane Riders.  

Perhaps noticing that, not for the first time in this venue, he has the entire audience captivated and seated squarely in the palm of his hand Vaughn dips into his magic sorting hat of songs and produces the utterly gorgeous ‘Touch of Your Hand’. Although the lyrics will tell you the words came too late, this time they arrive with all the punctuality of a missing Scotsman when it’s his round…to a man, woman and child we are all officially lost in the moment. It’s time for some Myths, Legends and Lies action and we arrive at a place that knew not a name or face, this is Last Ride of the Sunset Men and itcomes complete with the quite marvellous mythical narration piece that punctuates the country vibe, Dylan-esque beginning and end.

All the way back to the start of Vaughn’s recording career we go as Waysted’s ‘Singing to the Night’ rings around the Cluny, the crowd get louder every time the chorus comes around and a visibly excited Vaughn responds in kind and starts hitting notes like they owe him money. With the joy now palpable in the room the spell book gets flipped to ‘B’ and we’re treated to the song writing wonders of From the Inside’s ‘Blessing in Disguise’. With joy must come some sorrow and so it is as we drift into the bewitching arms of ‘Think of me in the Fall, this is genuine hear a pin drop territory, just the voice a guitar and an audience who know they are witnessing a truly magical moment.

Leaving the fall behind it’s time quite literally for a change of ‘Seasons’ as we launch into some classic sing a long Tyketto before we’re back in pin drop territory for the poignant maternal ode that is ‘What You Left Behind’ and the real alchemy at the heart of Vaughn’s song writing. To have the ability to transfer grief into song is one thing, to be able to deliver it so that everybody in the room feels he is singing just for them is another thing entirely. Sensing the need to bring the crowd back from the heavens we hit terra firma astride a Sturgis bound bike and the truly wonderful ‘The Run’. I’m aware this will be akin to slapping the saintly mother of some but for me this is by far and away the best song to come out of the Tyketto stable, the rousing reception it received may suggest that I’m not alone as the cheers continue for long enough for the stage to be rejigged and the concert encore to be set up.

Returning to the stage the THWB gents settle around a now beaming Vaughn and you begin to get the merest hint that something spellbinding is about to unfold. What follows is a three-song run that I’m honestly going to struggle to do justice to. ‘End of the Summer Days’ in all its acoustic glory is accented by perfectly placed dual vocals and five voices that at time blend seamlessly into one. Second of the three song encore is THWB’s gorgeous goodbye song ‘Fly Me Up to the Moon’ and again all of the voices together sound that good you just know somewhere in the world The Eagles copywrite computer whirled into action only to realise this one didn’t actually belong to them. With the bar set quite literally at moon levels I know I’m not alone in wondering how you follow that…well you follow it with the best version of ‘Catch My Fall’ you’re ever likely to hear. The ad-libbed acapella vocal harmonies that closed the song and the night were musical witchcraft plain and simple.

So, there you have it. Two hours of absolute magic and not a Forever Young, Wings or Standing Alone to be found and you know what…they genuinely weren’t missed. What I witnessed tonight was a man baring his very being. Authentic, unabridged...raw, like unfiltered droplets of his soul running freely through his hands and voice. This my friends, was one for the ages and I’m left with the embers of a smouldering quote I can’t put a name to...

There’s never…ever a reason not to chase the ones that make you feel something and tonight Mr Vaughn made everybody feel everything.

Put simply, Vaughn is Merlin with a microphone and the only real debate at this stage is whether he’s knighted for services to music or burned at the stake as a witch.

Much Love

Ross