REVIEW: Levellers | Morecambe Winter Gardens | 25 November 2021

Dickie Felton 26 Nov 2021

Newsreel of life in Thatcher’s Britain is broadcast moments before The Levellers hit the stage at The Albert Hall of the North.

There’s flashbacks to police brutality at Orgreave, deadly diseases, poll tax protests, before shifting to Blair, the Gulf War and ending up at Black Lives Matter.

And I daydream: is the power of the people greater than the people in power?

I was 18 when Levellers released their legendary LP ‘Levelling The Land’. Their joyous songs of dignity and defiance had me dancing around my bedroom throughout the winter of 1991.

Thirty-years-on the Brighton folk-punk group are on the road to celebrate this landmark record.

This concert was switched from Lancaster Town Hall as its busy with vaccinations rather than headlights, white lines and black tar rivers…

So gig-goers are diverted five miles to the seaside. And I can’t think of a more apt venue to watch one of Britain’s greatest indie bands than at Morecambe Winter Gardens.

Opened in 1897, The Winter Gardens had a more lavish interior than the VIP lounge on The Titanic.

Once the heartbeat of this northern seaside town, the complex fell into disrepair and the music died in 1977, until, it seems, tonight.

Amazingly this is the first major gig at the venue for almost half-a-century. There are 1000 people here and almost all are in awe at the stunning theatre they find themselves in.

Levellers front man Mark Chadwick is in good company when he brings his band of freedom fighters on stage at 9.15pm, striding boards once trodden by Sir Laurence Olivier and The Rolling Stones.

Amid the faded glamour an acoustic guitar cuts through the night with the opening chords of ‘One Way’. Chadwick’s voice is as exactly as it was in 1991 – as strong as an ox.

Considering us Levellers fans are now in our late 40s and 50s the atmosphere is electric, bordering on frenzy.

It helps that the band is about to deliver a knockout show that Morecambe resident and world boxing champ Tyson Fury would be proud of.

They leap straight into their 1991 epic album without pausing to take a breath: ‘The Game’, ‘Fifteen Years’ and ‘The Boatman’ send the middle-aged indie kids into raptures.

It’s too much for some, as a brawl starts at the front and Chadwick takes control ordering security to eject one fella who thinks he’s at the MGM Grand for a sparring session. A little later another strapping lad tumbles backwards and takes ten fans out with him.

Anarchy meets opulence as Levellers deliver a dazzling set.

I’m pogo jumping higher than I ever did at 90s Levellers gigs as the opening bars of ‘Sell-Out’ kick-in and send chandeliers shaking. It’s the sensational strings that get me most, along with a subtle lyric change:

“The year is 2021 it seems that freedom’s dead and gone. The power of the rich is held by few. Keep the young ones paralized, educated by your lies.”

I’m amazed how I remember almost every lyric to the tracks on ‘Levelling The Land’. Singing like I’m at the football, I’m almost in tune, and this after a half of 0% beer.

‘Another’s Man’s Cause’ details the final moments of a dying soldier with echoes of war poet Wilfred Owen.

“Your Daddy died in the last war, fighting for another man’s cause. And your brother was killed in the Falklands. Now your mother is lying at home alone”

All these songs were written three decades ago yet have the same power and pertinence today than at any time in the 1990s.

There’s a few new songs thrown in proving that Levellers are a group for the here and now.

They have a new album out this week which you can *buy here*

Morecambe Winter Gardens is a monument to a bygone era of music and culture. And the future looks bright.

Last month it was announced that the venue is to receive a £200k funding boost. The Grade 2* listed Victorian Concert Hall has already undergone extensive repairs over the past 12 months.

I truly hope music in Morecambe catches on. You can support the fundraising campaign to restore this seaside gem here: https://www.morecambewintergardens.co.uk/donate/