GIG REVIEW: Chuck Ragan + Nate Bergman @ The Cluny, Newcastle, Tuesday 29 April 2025
Hot Water Music were one of the cornerstones of the ’90s US punk rock revival, their melodic hardcore striking a chord with many a disaffected youth.
More than 30 years on, after a couple of hiatuses, they’re still making great records, and are cited as an influence by a whole host of bands.
That might explain why, on a Tuesday night, The Cluny is rammed to see the solo return of Hot Water Music co-vocalist Chuck Ragan, 10 years after he last played here.
He’s here to promote his latest album, Love And Lore, which came out late last year. It’s his first since 2014, but he’s been busy in-between, releasing a soundtrack and three HWM albums as well as leading fly-fishing tours to provide for his family.
First things first though; this review wouldn’t be complete without a mention of tonight’s opener, Nate Bergman. He’s a new name to me, and I suspect most other people here.
He’s a singer-songwriter from Nashville, very much in the Chuck Ragan troubadour mode (one man and an acoustic guitar), and he’s an absolute revelation. He has a stunning voice, and it’s a long time since I’ve seen an audience as hushed as this one was for his short set of misery and melancholy.
He warns after his first song, which is a real heartbreaker, that things are going to get even sadder, very quickly, and he’s not kidding. Most of his songs are about break-ups and struggling to cope, and at one point he gets the audience to join in with ever-louder choruses of “I wish I was dead”.
Sorrow seems to be his stock in trade, and it’s powerful stuff. He started performing solo after being stuck in the UK during lockdown, and he’s got good stagecraft. He ends his set playing unplugged and singing with no mic in the middle of the crowd, but you can hear every word. Put him on your must-see list, he’s that good.
The bar has been set pretty high, but Chuck Ragan accepts the challenge and delivers a 90-minute set of campfire anthems which feel truly cathartic. As well as having hundreds of HWM gigs under his belt, he was the prime mover for many years in the Revival Tour, which brought together artists from the punk, Americana and alt-country worlds for collaborative acoustic shows, including a couple in Newcastle.
He’s accompanied tonight on pedal steel, backing vocals and occasional electric guitar by Todd Beene, formerly of Memphis alt-country outfit Lucero, and their show feels very much like one of those Revival celebrations.
Armed with just an acoustic guitar, occasionally a harmonica and those trademark gruff vocals, Ragan’s heartfelt songs immediately connect with the audience. He sings about love, loss, life and much more, his voice dripping with emotion as he puts heart and soul into the performance.
Although this show is to promote Love And Lore, he begins with a brace of tunes (Nothing Left To Prove and You Get What You Give) from his 2011 album Covering Ground, regarded by many as his best. We have to wait until five songs in for the first new track, Reel My Heart. Three more follow later; Northern World, Echo The Halls and Winter. They’re the backbone of the album, and sound even better in this stripped-down fashion.
Ragan didn’t amass such a dedicated following without knowing how to give his fans what they want, however, and the pair of Hot Water Music tracks he slips into the set (State Of Grace and Drag My Body) are greeted ecstatically.
Dues are also paid to old Revival tourmates with covers of No Weather by Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem and Bleeder by Alkaline Trio. Local punk legends Leatherface get a mention too (Hot Water Music did a split with them way back in 1999), but sadly there’s no cover.
When Beene leaves the stage to leave Ragan to play a couple of numbers alone, Chuck reveals his sideman has been playing with a broken arm, and sure enough he’s wearing a lightweight cast when manning the merch stall after the gig. What a trooper!
Crowd favourites The Boat and Meet You In The Middle provoke big singalongs as the set approaches its end, and Ragan thanks the crowd for making him and Beene feel like part of their family. Hopefully they won’t leave it so long until the next reunion.
