Very Vocal Youngsters

Wednesday 25th January: It’s extremely rare for me to go to a gig outside of York these days. Tonight, however, saw me heading over the Pennines for a first ever trip to the M.E.N. Arena. In all honesty, I was treating this as more of a “duty” trip – Elizabeth was among a number of pupils from her school (and thousands of other kids from schools around the country) performing as part of the last of three Young Voices concerts held in Manchester this week. It’s not that I was forced to go, just that I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it that much.

It might be a little hard to picture the scene that greeted us inside the venue, unless you’ve been to an arena concert before. If you have, you will know that the stage is, generally, at one end of the floor and the seats behind and immediately to the sides of it are blocked off or empty or behind huge banks of speakers and lights. Well, it was more or less the same tonight, except that those seats were filled with thousands of kids, all dressed in white t-shirts and all supplied with small torches or glow sticks – perhaps the biggest set of backing singers you will ever come across.

Through a two-hour performance the kids perform alongside or, perhaps more accurately, behind four very different celebrity acts, with a full band (including Musical Director Craig McLeish), conductor (David Lawrence) and more grown-up backing singers on stage as well. Sprinkled among these performances are a a few medleys – songs from The Monkees, Toy Story and a pop song medley - which were performed just by the kids and the band. The celebrities tonight, in rough order of appearance were:

The High Kings – an energetic Irish folk band of multi-instrumentalists who performed Rocky Road, Gaudette, Step It Out Mary and, according to the programme The Fields Of Athenry (although I don’t remember that one…)

Randolph Matthews – an extremely talented (and barefoot) voice artist who not only sang Norwegian Wood, Precious and Something Inside So Strong but also led up to his first song with a story, complete with sound effects (footsteps, a car horn, a bird flying away, etc) all done with his own voice. I’m sure that some of the bands I’ve seen have used a loop machine when performing, but this was the first time that I have been able to truly appreciate how one works and what it can do to enhance a song, as Randolph started Norwegian Wood with vocal rhythms before building the actual song on top of them.

Connie Talbot – runner up in the 2007 series of Britain’s Got Talent, Connie’s performance really put me in my place in terms of my opinion of people who appear on that show. I admit that I’ve never watched it – too many thoughts of juggling dogs and dancing Grandads put me off – but my opinion has always been that, even if the singers can sing a bit, real talent includes writing your own material. Not only does eleven-year-old Connie have an incredible voice that belies both her age and her size, but she wrote one of the songs (I’m afraid the programme doesn’t list the title) herself when she was just seven. I’m guessing somebody has tidied it up a bit for her, but even so, that’s impressive. As was her rendition of Snow Patrol’s Run.

Urban Strides – were on stage quite a bit of the time, if only to provide guidance for the kids as to what dance moves they should have been performing during the songs. Street Dance specialists, I’m afraid that they were the least impressive part of the evening for me. I simply don’t “get” Street Dance (it’s probably my age) and during their showcase dance there was, at times, just too much going on at different parts of the stage to be able to take it all in. I’m sure that they are very good at what they do, it’s just that body-popping and robotic dancing (a style famously made fun of in Friends a decade ago – are dance styles cyclical, just like fashion?) just aren’t my thing.  

As well as their “solo” slots, all the celebrities returned to the stage for the finale – a Queen medley during which they showed just how much fun they were having performing, with Randolph visually taking the mickey out of other performers and Martin Furey (from The High Kings) getting down on his knees to perform alongside Connie Talbot.

But it wasn’t the celebrities that made the evening, it was the kids. We were lucky enough to have seats that were not only very close to the stage but were also so close to where the Headlands Primary School kids were positioned that we were able to pick out individuals, including Elizabeth. We could see their enthusiasm and the energy they put into the performances. We could also hear them. Boy could we hear them. It was fairly obvious that they had been told to shout and scream at various key points in the evening – for example, when the lights went down and the announcer told everybody the show was going to start – and shout and scream they did, at near-deafening volume. Getting some 6,000 kids to perform in sync, both singing, dancing and, at times, using their torches must have been something akin to herding cats. Most of the work was down with the individual choirs at their schools but the whole of tonight’s set only had one afternoon of rehearsal to get working together. Somehow, though, it was made to work and to say that the evening blew me away is a bit of an understatement. I’m fairly certain I spent the whole two hours with a big grin on my face and an even bigger lump in my throat. During the finale, the crowd were encouraged to their feet and the kids reproduced one my all-time favourite live spectacles – the synchronised clapping from Radio GaGa – while the torches were used to great effect, reproducing a sky full of stars during the rendition of Who Wants To Live Forever.

It was a very long day for the children involved. Our group didn’t get home until near midnight (on a school day) but Elizabeth’s enjoyment shone through her exhaustion and I wouldn’t think twice about letting her be involved again next year (assuming that the school is involved).

Not necessarily the sort of gig I would normally attend, tonight turned out to be a whole lot more enjoyable than I expected it to be and is, in fact, an early contender for gig of the year. 

Gig Of Dreams

Friday 20th January: I would like to start this post by saying “Thanks” to Roy (a.k.a. Seldom Seen From Strensall) for offering me a lift to tonight’s gig, for reasons that will become apparent.

This was my first trip to The Fulford Arms because, in the past, I had thought it too far out of town to be a feasible gig venue for me. I don’t mind cycling into the centre of town if I want a couple of pints with my music but, until tonight, I hadn’t realised that the pub was just a couple of minutes further out than The Barbican, which I had already cycled to. And what a lovely pub it is – open fires, loads of candles and fairy lights, big leather sofas (although I don’t know how early you would need to get there to get use of them) and, tonight at least, eight real ales to choose from. I stuck with the Ruddy Ram, a dark porter from Masham’s Black Sheep Brewery.

The pub also has a large, regular-shaped room, which makes it a better venue for music than some of the city centre pubs that we have frequented in the past. Tonight, Roy tells me that the room is quite a bit fuller than the last time Roy was here. That also made it quite a bit noisier, which was a shame as very few people seemed to be listening to tonight’s opening act. David Breslin is another man-and-guitar act, one I hadn’t come across even by name before tonight. From where we were sitting, it wasn’t easy to hear either his music or his introductions, so this “review” isn’t to be taken as comprehensive. My regular reader will know that I’m generally not averse to a bit of acoustic action, but Mr Breslin sounded just a little too “folky” for me. His opener, which may have been called Part Of The Problem, sounded OK but the second song was what I would class as more archetypical folk – slower, finger-picking and with slightly warbling vocals. The third was similar and the fourth seemed to get even slower and quieter. From the fifth onwards, I’m afraid that the ambient noise got too much and that, together with Andy finally arriving, meant that I lost interest. I think I only missed two songs and I do feel a guilty for not paying more attention. For the second post in a row, I find myself apologising to the opening act, although this time it’s more for not giving him much of a chance to impress me, rather than not liking him that much. Sorry David. He does, however, have one of the more interesting MySpace Bios that I have come across…

I’m sure it wasn’t deliberate but, when the main act took to the stage area, David and some of his friends had occupied the table next to us and, together with a group of rather loud women a little bit further away, started drowning out the music with their chatter. This eventually, after a couple of songs, prompted us to leave our seats and move closer to the front, standing but resisting the temptation to glare at the sofa occupiers until they took pity on us and gave up one of their comfy perches. This was a last chance to see the full band line-up of Dream Of Apollo for some months as bass-player Rhys was about to head off down-under to get married – best wishes, Rhys. Hope all goes well – and I’m glad I took the opportunity. The band are my favourite of the smaller (and I don’t mean that in any derogatory way) local bands and, since a brief flurry of activity last Summer, it’s been a while since I’ve managed to catch them play. Tonight’s set was, more or less, the same as the other times I’ve seen them live, with the addition of Over Me, a new song which was receiving its debut. Most of the songs are now familiar, but seem to offer something new whenever I hear them. Sandman, for example, is the song that convinced me to see the band in the first place, but it is only after listening to it on a demo-CD that Rhys kindly passed to me tonight, that I have realised that it is about somebody who can’t sleep. (I can almost see the band rolling their eyes in disbelief as they read that statement…) The main body of Too Lost, Too Late sounded just as before, but I don’t remember the superb instrumental jam ending to it. Leander was played without Winston, who was busy replacing a string that he had broken during the previous song, so definitely sounded different to previous versions, while I don’t remember Jamie leaving the stage during Jolene before tonight. And it was only tonight that I realised how haunting Vicki’s vocals can be, especially during the slower songs such as Someday and In A Manner Of Speaking. Vicki herself seemed a lot more relaxed than other times I have seen her. I’m not sure whether it’s true that that was down to her not driving to the venue and, therefore, being able to have a tipple or two, but that might also explain the near-premature end to the first half of the set – Vicki, “We’re going to do one more song, then take a ten minute break.” Winston, “I thought we had three songs left before the break…” – and the huge smile when one of her friends rushed forward to retrieve a dropped plectrum. 

I don’t know how many of the crowded room were there specifically to see Dream Of Apollo but it seemed to me that the applause grew with each song. At the end of the set most people were shouting out more more. A few were even suggesting what the encore should be. The deliciously dark Anatole seemed to be the crowd’s favourite but we got one of Vicki’s solo songs, played with Rhys and Jamie but with no guitar from Winston, who seemed content to provide backing vocals.

I’m told that, while Rhys is away, there is a possibility of some acoustic support slots for the rest of the band. Work will also continue on recording a debut album. Personally, I can’t wait.

Free And Easy

Monday 9th January: It’s been a while since I’ve seen a gig at Stereo. The last time I was here (in fact, the last two times) I was pretty much the only person in the audience and, I have to say, I was a little worried tonight – with just minutes to go before the gig was due to start and there was only me, one of the acts, the soundman and one other person loitering about. Thankfully, the addition of a few chairs and tables, as well as quite a few more punters, made the venue look reasonably full by the time the first act took to the stage.

Tonight is a free-entry acoustic showcase, a mix of acts I have seen before, ones I’ve heard of and one that I haven’t come across at all. Elliot Matthew Partridge is the latter and, I’ll be honest, he didn’t do a great deal with me. It’s not that his six song set was particularly bad, just that none of the songs grabbed me. For me, there were germs of promise in Moon Pies And Penny Whistles, We Are The Sons and something previously by Don’t Let Paris Fool You – a band that Elliot used to be guitarist in until recently. Unfortunately, I found the stories between the songs just the wrong side of irrelevant to the performance. It was almost as though he just wanted to get things that had annoyed him off his chest in front of an audience and that, as well as a propensity for slightly crude in-jokes with friends in the audience, distracted too much from the music for my liking. Sorry, Elliot.

Next up was Alice Ostapjuk, who I have seen perform solo before but who, apparently, now plays mostly with a band. Alice rails against the seemingly small things in life, using music and humour as her weapons. Incredibly the room was near-silent as Alice started her set with Samuel’s Secret and Love Game, a song inspired by Motown and Diana Ross (who is obviously a favourite as, just like last time I saw her, the set included a very different cover of a Diana Ross song – Where Did Our Love Go?, I think…). Her sisters playing of R&B songs inspired the aptly titled R&B Song, the lyrics of which were brilliantly humorous, blaming the genre for a large number of life’s ills. Kiss Me Better was followed by Paper Planes And Shooting Stars, another song I had heard last time out and one that most people seemed to know well enough to join in the clapping section. Finally, we got the first solo outing for Rage Against The Tangerine, another song that takes aim at the downside of some people’s lives, in this case the “perfect” girls at school, without being too serious about it. This was another interesting and enjoyable support slot from the young songwriter.

Johnny Gill was, I believe, a late replacement for Marck (Marbled) Whiley, who had to pull out due to ear problems. I knew his name, but hadn’t seen him perform before. It was, perhaps, appropriate, given his slight stature, that he started with I Was Never A Giant, a nice song played in an intricate and slightly mesmerising finger-picking style. Thieves Amongst Honour was followed by the wonderful Wolves And Waves, during which Jonny effortlessly switched between quiet and near-shouting vocal styles. Made Of Glass was a cover (I don’t remember if we were told who did it originally) and, again, featured great vocals but for me the best song of the set was something that might have been called Worst Things Happen At Sea. With just enough time to squeeze in two songs, Jonny failed to introduce the first, but finished with Friday Night Lights. A nice mix of songs, and a great voice complemented by some excellent music. Definitely an act I will be looking out for again.

I still haven’t managed to catch Mantra live, but I have seen frontman Oli Stevens-Vallecillo and guitarist Catherine Redfern perform acoustically once before. Tonight they are joined by James Fletcher, whose shiny electric bass looked just a touch out of place and seemed to be to be too loud in the mix for the early part of the set. Mixing Country and Western covers from the likes of Neal McCoy and Alan Jackson (Midnight In Montgomery) with what I assume were acoustic versions of Mantra songs such as Counting My Reasons and Always Drive Alone, provided for a varied set which was further enhanced by the use of effects pedals, some incredibly tight playing by the two guitarists and, on one song, a bottle neck playing style. Oli’s voice is superb, a kind of rich Southern drawl without coming across as too laid back and the backing vocals from Catherine were lovely. I doubt that this is what they sound like as a full band and one day I’m going to have to find out.

Finally, with the time already past the advertised finish (and with a cold bike ride home ahead of me), Boss Caine, in his now seemingly usual solo guise, took to the stage. Dan/G.T./Boss is probably my favourite acoustic act in York. Most of his songs are now so familiar that I can pretty much mime (you don’t want to hear me sing) along to the them, much as whoever was standing behind me could (only louder and more in tune) and it was nice to see people hanging around to see his set. Too many times when I have seen him opening for another act or performing in a crowded pub and, in both cases, having to try to punch through the ambient noise. Tonight’s crowd was certainly more appreciative and while Dan made light of his apparent miserablist reputation, it was also a pleasure to see him having a laugh on stage during his set. Opening with the brilliant and sombre Ghosts And Drunks he then treated us to the more uplifting duo of  A Kind Of Loving and Dead Man’s Suit and then a new song which, if he did tell us it, I missed the title of. It was back to the slightly downbeat with Be My Grievous Angel, a tribute to Graham Parsons, and Sweet Sorrow Surrender before taking an audience request for Murder On My Mind for his final song.

Overall this was a great night of acoustic music. Maybe such a showcase should be a regular or semi-regular Stereo event, with rotating, varied acts. I’d certainly be up for more nights like it.