Will Varley is a honoury scouser. With his grandfather being from Liverpool and his mother going to school here, he is well equipped to deal with the Liverpool gig at the Buyers Club. And he does it with aplomb. Will seems relaxed and jovial in his set and that transcends through the audience made up of the young, the old and the odd glamorous blonde. Will is one of the old school guard. A guitar, a drink and some wonderfully emotive songs.
Now, hot off the back of warming up European arenas for Frank Turner, he manages to engage the crowd from the offset. encouraging them to sing along to the difficult “la la la la’s” and to embrace life and a drink.
Varley even treats us to some of his new stuff but tends to stick mainly to the old favourites of the poignant ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ and ‘Until The Grass Gets Greener’ which he dedicates to the love of his life. He even manages to cast a vote on whether his set list should include a song about a cat or a monkey. The cat wins! With romping choruses and tender poetry this is a set that veers from one extreme to the other and Will enjoys every minute of it, even when having to try to deal with a haunted microphone with a mind of its own.
He signs off with – “This is a song about being a waster” and his encore is the traditional ‘I Got This Email’.
When you listen to Will you can see why Frank Turner had him as his support act. They are both similar lyrically and musically and both have that wonderful ability to make a crowd warm to them even if you haven’t heard anything from them before. He’ll deservedly keep on getting bigger and better, but I’m guessing he will never stray far from the people who made him like that.