The Miserable Rich returned to playing live with their first show since their KitFest charity venture in 2018, and it was an absolute delight. The band were much loved but under-appreciated in their heyday, although not by the sold out room of friends and fans at the Hope & Ruin this week.

Lead Mis James de Malplaquet was on great form, claiming to have only lost his nerves at the end of the set, but at his best throughout – warm, amusing and compassionate – claiming at one point that although the band’s songs were all sad ones, even the new ones, he recognised that they often tempered their touching subjects with a kind of optimism.

It was great to see Jim Briffett back with the band, his guitar lines always adding a special texture to the Miserable Rich sound. Will Calderbank and Mike Siddell were both superb – Will dancing between cello and keyboards, and Mike had apparently missed some rehearsals but his careful fiddling produced a beautiful accompaniment to de Malplaquet’s rich vocals. Rhys Lovell on double bass and Martin Deering on drums provided the backbone to a resolute and mesmerising alt-folk set.

The full set list was:

Chestnut Sunday
Pisshead
Time
Everything Bright & New
Quietly
Glue
Oliver
Muswell
Ballad of Young Finn
FHS
Crows
Probably Will
Ringing the Changes
encore: Boat Song (sung acoustically, in the audience)

Support came from Joe Woodham, with a set of charismatically crafted pedal-adjusted guitar-based tunes.

The Miserable Rich played the Hope & Ruin, Thursday, 7th December 2023

Photos by Jon Southcoasting