Concert/Album Review: Dan O’Farrell – The Brook, Southampton
Sunday 18th October 2026
A remarkable concurrence of events and circumstances happened and by lucky accident, the support artist for the amazing Crash Test Dummies concert at The Brook has changed at the very last minute. This type of coincidence doesn’t always have positive results but this time we got lucky.
Dan O’Farrell walked on stage with his guitar, he had a sip of beer and a night of folk rock started in very bright houselights as there was a technical issue that has only been fixed by the end of his set.
(40 photos from this gig – use this link)
Quietly building up a fortress of witty sarcasm with observational lyrics that depict all different styles of human behaviour, the songs one after the other were a kind of reporter-like lens that focus on deep internal emotions. The acoustic guitar sounded clear, emotional and gentle. Each story by Dan in between the songs evoked some specific feelings, especially when he performed “Southampton Southampton”.
We bought the Dan O’Farrell & The Difference Engine – The Fish That Learned To Drown signed album on CD right before his gig started. Mainly because we like to support local artists. After the show, I’ve played the album a good few times and it felt right to write about it in this concert review post.
The album is a collection of 12 tracks and an adventure into modern city folk spiced with elements of classic folk rock.
A zither or sitar tune quietly opens the album with “Heartbreak Hostel”, a track about forgiveness and caused misery.
“The Colonial Club” a bit Beatles like social criticism to establish that all lives matter. The album sounds great on CD and since I mentioned to Dan that I will write a concert review, he generously sent me a few of their albums on vinyls and CDs. I did listen to the back catalogue a few times, but this is more about the latest album, for now.
An odd one out track for me, in a good way, is “Cyanide Desire”. Questioning if something is broken in one’s head or the world is warped a bit.
For me, “God Etc.” is by far the most impressive song both musically and lyrically on the album. Even if “Asbestos Love” had the most to relate to with the unusually hot summer we had in the UK. Rightfully called Southampton’s finest song-writer, Dan O’Farrell gives us room for interpretation in the aspect of lyrics, but also hits the brain directly with songs like the title track of the album “The Fish That Learned To Drown” in which we are encouraged to learn from our vices and learn to not repeat them.
An excellent album for open minded music lovers.