The Damn Truth
- Rock Metal Machine
- 24 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Artists: The Damn Truth, Parker Barrow
Venue: The Globe (Cardiff)
Date: 23rd November 2025
"The gig was a very enjoyable fast-paced and powerful evening of music. Both bands were at the top of their game..."
The Globe is not too far from Cardiff City Centre and can hold around 350 people. Tonight the venue is fairly well packed out. This is the last night of the UK tour for both bands. The intro music struck up and then the support act who was Parker Barrow started at 19.30. They are a six piece Southern Rock band from Nashville that have a Blues influence running through their songs. The band is led by husband and wife duo, Megan Kane on vocals and Dylan Turner on drums. Unfortunately the sound mix was not very good. The volume was far too high for the size of the venue and so the sound was distorted. I thought it was the location that I was in initially (upstairs on the balcony), but I moved downstairs and it was just as bad down there. However despite that the band came across very well. Kane is a very good singer who never stands still and she is a joy to watch. The rest of the band were also very good musicians and looked as if they were enjoying every moment of being on stage. I particularly enjoyed ‘Throwin’ Stones’ which was a very moody song that had an instrumental middle section, with both a slide guitar solo and dual guitar solos. They played for around forty minutes and, it was a very good, fast-paced set. Based on what I heard then I will certainly go out and explore their music some more. A band that will be worth watching out for the next time they play in the UK.
Set List (contains spoilers)
Come On In My Kitchen (intro song by Robert Johnson), Make It, Glass Eyes Cryin’, Don’t Tell Mama (What Mama Don’t Know), Throwin’ Stones, The Healer, Novocaine, Count Your Dollars
After only a short while, ‘White Rabbit’ by Jefferson Airplane started playing over the P.A and then The Damn Truth came on stage, and launched into ‘Be Somebody’. The sound mix was so much better. However, I detected a slight issue with Lee Baum’s voice. It was nothing serious, but it was not as strong as I have heard it on previous occasions. This was explained later in the set by her husband, guitarist Tom Shemer that doing a run of twelve dates one after another had taken its toll on her voice, and that she was only just able to talk let alone sing. Needless to say she carried on and it was only during one or two songs in the whole set that she had slight issues. This did not detract from the quality of the playing and singing throughout the evening though.
The band played a large proportion of the latest album ‘Willow’ and some of the more popular songs from their previous album, ‘Now Or Nowhere’. My favourite song of their set was ‘If I Don’t Make It Home’, with superb performances from each of the band members. They poured everything and more into their performance and the crowd responded by clapping and singing along. Tom Shemer is an excellent guitarist and his solos are never too flashy, Dave Traina is a solid drummer and did a short but perfectly put together drum solo during ‘Only Love’, and PY Letellier put in an impressive bass solo during ‘Devilish Folk’. Of course, Lee Baum’s fantastic and (usually) powerful vocals make up the rest of this four piece high-octane band.
The set lasted over 90 minutes and they came off stage briefly, and then returned to perform the encore ‘Devilish Folk’ from their second album. It was a fantastic performance by them, and high praise and respect must be given to Lee Baum for completing the set. Mention must be made of both bands’ merch stands. They had completely sold out of CDs, T-shirts etc. There were only a few vinyl copies of the latest album on The Damn Truth’s stand, and I believe I saw the last copy being sold as I left. On one hand I was disappointed as I wanted to purchase some merch and could not, but on the other hand I was very happy that both bands had sold everything because as we all know, it is not the touring that bands make their money on, it is people buying things on the merch stands.
The gig was a very enjoyable fast-paced and powerful evening of music. Both bands were at the top of their game and I am hoping to see them both again when they tour in 2026.
Set List (contains spoilers)
White Rabbit (intro-Jefferson Airplane song), Be Somebody, Killer Whale, Love Outta Luck, Addicted, The Willow’ This Is Who We Are Now, All Night Long, I Just Gotta Let You Know, If I Don’t Make It Home, Lonely, Only Love, Look Innocent, Get With You
Tomorrow
Encore: Devilish Folk
Review: Paul Gregoty
Photos: Paul May
Location:
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