Concert Review: Red Rum Club at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, NY

There’s truly nothing like a great Friday night of rock music, and Red Rum Club would have no hesitation in bringing it to you whenever you asked. Red Rum Club is a Liverpool-based sextet that incorporates buzzy guitars with the brassier elements of trumpets to create nonstop thrill rides in their sound. The group has been working hard over the last ten years, with five albums under their name, a resume of festival appearances including the prestigious Glastonbury and Reading in the UK, as well as a recent support slot for The Wombats on their Oh! The Ocean tour. This year, the group are supporting their excellent new record Buck with a run of shows across the USA, including a stop at the legendary Brooklyn venue Baby’s All Right, where I got to witness a night of the type of pure rock and roll that put New York live shows on the map.

Donning a stage backlit with red ashtrays synonymous with Baby’s All Right, Red Rum Club positioned themselves with a noticeable excitement equivalent to that of the audience’s before bursting in with BUCK’s title track. Lead singer Fran Doran clutched the microphone with an intensity that matched the pace and fervor of the songs as they zoomed through the set. Everyone in the audience looked engaged and happy to be in the room, with a noticeable absence of phone recording compared to similar shows in recent months. The group went through the range of their sounds quite early on, breaking out acoustic guitars on the track “Undertaker,” a tambourine on tracks like “Afternoon,” and a healthy amount of trumpets interspersed throughout the set. 

Red Rum Club focused mainly on tracks from BUCK, ranging from singles like “American Nights & English Mornings” and opener “Crush, TX” to slower tracks like “Call Me On Your Comedown.” Doran mentioned how his many adventures in the USA shaped the record, and an American concert venue was the perfect setting. The Americana tinged textures of the tracks was expanded through the use of acoustic guitars and a slider on his electric guitar, making some of the tracks feel suited for a rock club or a saloon. However, the group’s longevity has provided more than enough songs to choose from for an 18-track setlist, and they gave each of their records a moment to shine in the show. The success of their previous record Western Approaches called for a fair number of tracks in the setlist like “Black Cat” and “Daisy,” tracks, along with “Vibrate” from their 2021 record How To Steal The World, along with “Eleanor” and “The Kids Are Addicted” from 2020’s The Hollow of Humdrum.

After a short break, the group emerged from the back room to play a four song encore, including the acoustic driven “Eighteen”, followed up by the rock band’s breakout single, “Would You Rather Be Lonely.” After continuing the encore with another Matador cut “Angeline,” the group thanked everyone for attending before polishing up their set with the now seminal Red Rum Club cut “Vanilla,” which got everyone on their feet and singing along with the infectious chorus. It was a fantastic way to end the night and a great moment for fans of rock music to come together and celebrate the rooms that provide the magic.

Red Rum Club showed New York how to party with rock music, and their tour continues through most of the country. You can check out tour dates here as well as listen to their latest record BUCK here.