Wednesday 27th October: An unexpected email from Andy leads to an unplanned night out at Stereo.
Andy himself had yet to arrive when the first band, Patchwork Grace, took to the stage. It must be something about bands from Nottingham as, like Baby Godzilla a few weeks back, they did nothing for me on the basis of this performance. The MySpace page linked above states their genre as "rock" and there are citations from Kerrang, but tonight's set was acoustic and comprised of vocalist Tori Tea dressed like a gangster's moll and sitting between guitarist Christoph Marrizon and bassist Scott O'Conner (drummer Dan Rolfe was absent from the full line-up). The seated performance and simple guitar work provided for a less than dynamic set and, while Tea's voice sounded as though it could have been strong, on this occasion it came across as just a little monotonous. None of their own songs stuck out for me and the best part of their set was a cover of Love Cats (The Cure). It's perhaps unfair to judge them on an acoustic performance (the only one on their list of upcoming gigs) and maybe we'll see them back in York as a full band sometime.
Andy Finally arrived as the second band were starting their set. I got the impression that Boys Off The Bench were a relatively new band and nothing in my research for this post suggests otherwise. Their MySpace profile has only existed since July this year and only lists brothers Luke and Adam Henderson (vocals and drums respectively) as members, although there is mention of them being joined by bassist/guitarist Kenny. Tonight, however, there were five members on stage - Kenny, not being able to play both guitar and bass at the same time had been joined by a second string-man and there was also an electric piano, which proved to be the lead instrument in most of the songs while the guy tinkling its ivories also provided backing vocals, leading to some nice harmonies particularly during Bugle Boy. Overall, Luke's vocals seemed a little tentative and hesitant and it didn't help that the drums were mixed too high during You Make Me Smile which made the lyrics difficult to hear. Ravens, however, was a fantastic song - lyrically almost post-modern folk and ending with some incredibly dark drumming which superbly complemented the imagery of the song. Following this with a bright and breezy pop song and a vocals-and-keyboards-only number meant a varied and interesting set, while the final song, When Nothing Else Matters, was a thoughtful, intelligently written number and the best song of a very good set.
Leeds based Eureka Machines are another band with differences between tonight's line-up and full membership. Tonight we just had Chris and Dave, both doing vocals and guitar (one might have been a bass, I wasn't watching closely enough...) Apparently, they wish they had proper "rock-star" names. Well, Chris, without too much effort you could change yours to Chas... Anyway, billed as Rock/Punk/Pop with more citations from Kerrang and a track on a past Classic Rock cover CD, tonight was another acoustic set with a nice line in banter and songs which, perhaps unintentionally, managed to raise a smile. As did Dave's somewhat unnerving doorman stance, including piercing stare, when he had little to do and his dragging a chair on stage and sitting looking bored when Chris decided to do a song on his own. Despite some degree of audience apathy, the boys played a mixture of their own songs, including the excellent Story Of My Life (which was the Classic Rock CD track) and covers. "Who wants to hear the best song ever written?" asked Chris to no reply. "Nobody," he sighed before asking again and getting one "Yeah" from a woman in the audience. So, the duo left the stage to sit on the woman's table and serenade her with Wichita Lineman (Glen Campbell). Apparently, the second best song ever written is A-ha's Take On Me, which was also played tonight. Overall, a very enjoyable set which, in this format, would be highly recommended to fans of Hope & Social, of which there was more than a resonance of in the performance.
StringerBessant is comprised of Gary Stringer and Jack Bessant, both formerly of nineties Brit-rock band Reef. I don't remember the band and so went to tonight's gig with no preconceptions. However, it's hard to imagine two people less likely to have been in a successful British band of the nineties, with Gary looking like a surfer dude and Jack perhaps having wandered in from a remake of Grizzly Adams, in which he was playing the lead. Nor would the music have given you any clues. Jack played acoustic guitar and harmonica and occasionally sang while Gary sang, occasionally played guitar and provided a rhythm section by playing tambourine (or his knees). As with The Union, a few gigs back, I got the feeling that I had crashed a private party. Most of the audience seemed to know the songs, which were from the recently released album The Yard, with Wild Day and Give Me The Keys - two completely different songs, the former slow, the latter bouncy - getting particularly good reactions. A lot of the songs were quietly introspective and almost brought a lump to the throat, particularly in the vocals. Both guys have strong voices, just different from each other to be complementary and they gave us an incredibly involving set which was topped off by the vibrant encore Cross The Valley. It's safe to say that I'll be ordering a copy of the album soon.
Sunday 31 October 2010
Friday 22 October 2010
Adam Again
Friday 15th October: Weekends in York are still providing sparse fare in respect of new music to tempt us to the city's bigger venues. Thankfully, while the "clubs" are failing to entice, those pubs which try to drag the punters in by providing musical entertainment (albeit generally in the form of covers bands) are still providing ample opportunities to see some good acts. Tonight it's a rare full complement, including one new-comer, on an even rarer visit to the Punchbowl (Stonegate version) to see someone who is rapidly becoming a favourite.
I suppose, if we were to be totally honest, none of us would have known about Adam Dawson if he hadn't been chosen as Breathing Space's new guitarist. Although he plays regularly in York, it's generally not in a combination of venues we frequent and the nights we frequent them. Tonight, though, is the third time I've seen him, in a third different venue. It's not just the music, either - Adam seems happy enough to take time to speak with the punters and comes across as a genuinely nice guy.
The Punchbowl is a bit of a strange venue for music. The acts perform in one of its three rooms. In fact the room that doubles as a dining area and that people have to walk though to get to the back bar and the, errm, conveniences. The former means that the music doesn't start until food has stopped being server and eaten and the latter means that it can be quite a busy thoroughfare. Tonight, as Adam started his set, all the tables were taken and my usual standing spot was occupied. In fact, by the time we had all turned up I found myself standing through the doorway of the back bar, listening to the music rather than watching the performance and directly in line with the Table.
Why the capitalisation? Well, for me at least the Table has taken on a degree of notoriety. The smaller of two tables directly in front of the stage area it seems that every time I've seen an act at the Punchbowl it has been occupied by people who are determined to shout at each other over the music. Tonight was no exception but it was slightly embarrassing when I pointed out the Table to Adam while chatting to him during his break only to have him tell me that the occupants were friends of his. You know those times when you wish that the ground would open up underneath you...?
Anyway, as the second half of the set started, the occupants of both of the tables in front of the stage had moved, meaning that we got a chance to sit down, a much better view and less shouting. For all its faults, the Punchbowl does serve a very good selection of real ale and is a pretty good venue for music.
I realise that I've yet to mention Adam's performance. The set comprised mostly of songs we've heard him perform before and which are becoming familiar, even if I can't remember what some of them are called or who sang them without resorting to noting down lyrics, hoping I can read my won writing when I got home and Googling. Tonight a mixture of technical difficulties and a voice suffering from a week of teaching meant that Adam felt the need to apologise for a below par sound and to choose carefully which songs to perform. Not that it was too noticeable and it was still a thoroughly entertaining evening.
We were even treated to three of Adam's own songs - two more than last time. Along with the ubiquitous Lazy Susan, his latest single, we got I'm Coming Home and the beautiful and emotional Silver Skies, another track from the single, as the encore. I'd like to think that it was my request that got the latter played but it could just be that he was planning it anyway.
A more or less complete set list for tonight is:
Forever Lost (The Magic Numbers), unknown, Cannonball (Damien Rice), Dream Catch Me (Newton Faulkner), Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol), Hey There Delilah (Plain White T's), Sewn (Feeling - not sure about this one), Rule The World (Coldplay), Poker Face (Lady Gaga), Use Somebody (Kings of Leon), Lazy Susan (Adam Dawson), Streets of London (Ralph McTell), Shine (Take That), I'm Coming Home (Adam Dawson), Little Lion Man (Munford & Sons), Sloop John B (The Beach Boys), Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen), Silver Skies (Adam Dawson)
I suppose, if we were to be totally honest, none of us would have known about Adam Dawson if he hadn't been chosen as Breathing Space's new guitarist. Although he plays regularly in York, it's generally not in a combination of venues we frequent and the nights we frequent them. Tonight, though, is the third time I've seen him, in a third different venue. It's not just the music, either - Adam seems happy enough to take time to speak with the punters and comes across as a genuinely nice guy.
The Punchbowl is a bit of a strange venue for music. The acts perform in one of its three rooms. In fact the room that doubles as a dining area and that people have to walk though to get to the back bar and the, errm, conveniences. The former means that the music doesn't start until food has stopped being server and eaten and the latter means that it can be quite a busy thoroughfare. Tonight, as Adam started his set, all the tables were taken and my usual standing spot was occupied. In fact, by the time we had all turned up I found myself standing through the doorway of the back bar, listening to the music rather than watching the performance and directly in line with the Table.
Why the capitalisation? Well, for me at least the Table has taken on a degree of notoriety. The smaller of two tables directly in front of the stage area it seems that every time I've seen an act at the Punchbowl it has been occupied by people who are determined to shout at each other over the music. Tonight was no exception but it was slightly embarrassing when I pointed out the Table to Adam while chatting to him during his break only to have him tell me that the occupants were friends of his. You know those times when you wish that the ground would open up underneath you...?
Anyway, as the second half of the set started, the occupants of both of the tables in front of the stage had moved, meaning that we got a chance to sit down, a much better view and less shouting. For all its faults, the Punchbowl does serve a very good selection of real ale and is a pretty good venue for music.
I realise that I've yet to mention Adam's performance. The set comprised mostly of songs we've heard him perform before and which are becoming familiar, even if I can't remember what some of them are called or who sang them without resorting to noting down lyrics, hoping I can read my won writing when I got home and Googling. Tonight a mixture of technical difficulties and a voice suffering from a week of teaching meant that Adam felt the need to apologise for a below par sound and to choose carefully which songs to perform. Not that it was too noticeable and it was still a thoroughly entertaining evening.
We were even treated to three of Adam's own songs - two more than last time. Along with the ubiquitous Lazy Susan, his latest single, we got I'm Coming Home and the beautiful and emotional Silver Skies, another track from the single, as the encore. I'd like to think that it was my request that got the latter played but it could just be that he was planning it anyway.
A more or less complete set list for tonight is:
Forever Lost (The Magic Numbers), unknown, Cannonball (Damien Rice), Dream Catch Me (Newton Faulkner), Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol), Hey There Delilah (Plain White T's), Sewn (Feeling - not sure about this one), Rule The World (Coldplay), Poker Face (Lady Gaga), Use Somebody (Kings of Leon), Lazy Susan (Adam Dawson), Streets of London (Ralph McTell), Shine (Take That), I'm Coming Home (Adam Dawson), Little Lion Man (Munford & Sons), Sloop John B (The Beach Boys), Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen), Silver Skies (Adam Dawson)
Friday 8 October 2010
Union Meeting
Thursday 30th September: ...and I finally get to see the inside of the newly refurbished and, in some quarters, somewhat maligned Fibbers. Somebody has turned the inside around, made it a bit roomier (although I'm told that part of it was curtained off tonight) and made the decor a bit brighter, with a long bar selling expensive drinks (I didn't bother) and a sound system that, at least in part, looks as though it has been stolen from the TARDIS. It certainly seems to be easier to see the stage, with random walls and pillars having been removed, but the stage itself seems a bit smaller and I couldn't help but wonder how some bands I saw at the pre-refurb'ed version, particularly the seven-piece The Reasoning, would fit onto it. But that's for the future. What about tonight.
I wasn't too far down the queue when the doors opened but the first act, Boss Caine, had already started his set when I got through the doors. Must be a new tactic, starting the first act just minutes after the doors open (and, personally, I think it's slightly insulting to any first act). Dan (the Boss) Turbo, arguably the hardest working musician in York, who seems to be everywhere at the moment, performed pretty much the same set that he did in support of Hope & Social a couple of weeks ago. A mix of new and old songs, but with only one, Sweet Sorrow Surrender, from the first album. The few people who had made it in when he started gave him a pretty good reception but as the place filled up and the ambient noise level rose he struggled to make an impression, especially when calling for a round of applause for Tim Fox, who once again joined him on harmonic for Devils On Dean Street. I got the feeling, towards the end of his set, that he wasn't really enjoying himself. Not that that made any difference to his music, which was as enjoyable as ever. It may simply have been that the crowd wasn't right for GT's style of playing - after all most of them would have been hard core rock fans.
Speaking of fans, there seemed to be two distinct sets there tonight. As Ricky Warwick took to the stage, a portion of the crowd stepped up to fill the empty area in front of the stage and we took the opportunity to move with them, ending up directly under the air-conditioning unit. (I can confirm that the leak I'd heard about had been fixed and that the unit itself worked very well, pumping extremely cold air directly onto me for the next thirty or forty minutes...) But I digress.
Belfast-born Ricky is soon to be touring as lead singer of Thin Lizzy (perhaps the ultimate tribute band) and tonight performed edgy, acoustic rock songs at least two of which came from his third album, Belfast Confetti (the title track and Arms of Belfast Town). Jesus Loves You seemed to be a favourite with the audience, but I can't find it listed on any of his albums and there was an (almost) humourous song which seemed to be based around memories of Dickie Davies and World of Sport. His new single, The Whiskey Song, also featured as did a cover version of Motorhead's Ace Of Spades. His guitar-playing was energetic and at times verged on raucous, and his voice was superb and a little reminiscent of somebody who I can't quite put my finger on. I'm reasonably certain that Ricky was originally down to headline tonight's gig but was dropped to second place simply because he was playing acoustically, while the new headliners were playing full band. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing him again and, while I probably won't get the chance, would certainly consider catching him with Thin Lizzy.
As Ricky left the stage, a strange thing happened. Most of the audience seemed to move away, meaning thtat we managed to get even closer. I ended up just two people from the front, with an absolutely superb view (and no cold down-draft), something I had never achieved at the old Fibbers.
Last year, Thunder announced that, after twenty years, they were retiring from recording and touring as a band in order to spend more time on their individual activities. The Union is the first of these that I have come across and features Luke Morley (ex-Thunder) and Peter Shoulder (ex-Winterville) sharing guitar and vocals, if not evenly. For the tour they have been joined by Chris Childs (also ex-Thunder) on bass and a drummer introduced simply as "The wee Scotsman". Playing most, if not all of the songs from their self-titled debut album, they treated us to a set full of rock which proudly displayed its Southern Blues and Country roots. Highlights included the subtle Lillies, which invoked an "Awwww" response from the female portion of the audience when it was introduced and the slow, melodic Saviour. That's not to say that the ballad-like songs were the best - there was an incredibly epic live song towards the end of the set (I didn't catch the title) while Black Monday somehow evoked images of Speakeasies. Even the catchy sing-along, This Time Next Year (The Union's anti-X-Factor song but perhaps their most commercial), somehow managed to stick in my mind. The band's encore consisted of their own Come Rain Come Shine followed by a cover of Proud Mary, which featured a guitar duel between Morley's blood-red Gibson and Shoulder's black Les Paul, during which the two men could, at times, barely keep a straight face. Superb music and a fantastic voice, somehow reminiscent of Springsteen and Clapton at the same time, this was one of the best gigs of the year so far.
I wasn't too far down the queue when the doors opened but the first act, Boss Caine, had already started his set when I got through the doors. Must be a new tactic, starting the first act just minutes after the doors open (and, personally, I think it's slightly insulting to any first act). Dan (the Boss) Turbo, arguably the hardest working musician in York, who seems to be everywhere at the moment, performed pretty much the same set that he did in support of Hope & Social a couple of weeks ago. A mix of new and old songs, but with only one, Sweet Sorrow Surrender, from the first album. The few people who had made it in when he started gave him a pretty good reception but as the place filled up and the ambient noise level rose he struggled to make an impression, especially when calling for a round of applause for Tim Fox, who once again joined him on harmonic for Devils On Dean Street. I got the feeling, towards the end of his set, that he wasn't really enjoying himself. Not that that made any difference to his music, which was as enjoyable as ever. It may simply have been that the crowd wasn't right for GT's style of playing - after all most of them would have been hard core rock fans.
Speaking of fans, there seemed to be two distinct sets there tonight. As Ricky Warwick took to the stage, a portion of the crowd stepped up to fill the empty area in front of the stage and we took the opportunity to move with them, ending up directly under the air-conditioning unit. (I can confirm that the leak I'd heard about had been fixed and that the unit itself worked very well, pumping extremely cold air directly onto me for the next thirty or forty minutes...) But I digress.
Belfast-born Ricky is soon to be touring as lead singer of Thin Lizzy (perhaps the ultimate tribute band) and tonight performed edgy, acoustic rock songs at least two of which came from his third album, Belfast Confetti (the title track and Arms of Belfast Town). Jesus Loves You seemed to be a favourite with the audience, but I can't find it listed on any of his albums and there was an (almost) humourous song which seemed to be based around memories of Dickie Davies and World of Sport. His new single, The Whiskey Song, also featured as did a cover version of Motorhead's Ace Of Spades. His guitar-playing was energetic and at times verged on raucous, and his voice was superb and a little reminiscent of somebody who I can't quite put my finger on. I'm reasonably certain that Ricky was originally down to headline tonight's gig but was dropped to second place simply because he was playing acoustically, while the new headliners were playing full band. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing him again and, while I probably won't get the chance, would certainly consider catching him with Thin Lizzy.
As Ricky left the stage, a strange thing happened. Most of the audience seemed to move away, meaning thtat we managed to get even closer. I ended up just two people from the front, with an absolutely superb view (and no cold down-draft), something I had never achieved at the old Fibbers.
Last year, Thunder announced that, after twenty years, they were retiring from recording and touring as a band in order to spend more time on their individual activities. The Union is the first of these that I have come across and features Luke Morley (ex-Thunder) and Peter Shoulder (ex-Winterville) sharing guitar and vocals, if not evenly. For the tour they have been joined by Chris Childs (also ex-Thunder) on bass and a drummer introduced simply as "The wee Scotsman". Playing most, if not all of the songs from their self-titled debut album, they treated us to a set full of rock which proudly displayed its Southern Blues and Country roots. Highlights included the subtle Lillies, which invoked an "Awwww" response from the female portion of the audience when it was introduced and the slow, melodic Saviour. That's not to say that the ballad-like songs were the best - there was an incredibly epic live song towards the end of the set (I didn't catch the title) while Black Monday somehow evoked images of Speakeasies. Even the catchy sing-along, This Time Next Year (The Union's anti-X-Factor song but perhaps their most commercial), somehow managed to stick in my mind. The band's encore consisted of their own Come Rain Come Shine followed by a cover of Proud Mary, which featured a guitar duel between Morley's blood-red Gibson and Shoulder's black Les Paul, during which the two men could, at times, barely keep a straight face. Superb music and a fantastic voice, somehow reminiscent of Springsteen and Clapton at the same time, this was one of the best gigs of the year so far.
Friday 1 October 2010
Parading, In Spades
Saturday 25th September: After the disappointment of Tuesday's very late cancellation of Oceansize's gig at the newly refurbished Fibbers, which would have seen all of us out, tonight it's a solo outing for me to Stereo to get a second dose of some of the band members from last Saturday.
Tonight's support act, In Spades Inc, were only playing their second gig and, in some ways, it showed. There was an air of nervousness surrounding Stewart King's self-depreciating banter, almost as though he was apologising for the band turning up. He needn't have worried. While their music couldn't be said to be completely original, there was something just a little bit different about it which made it interesting and entertaining. Their forty minute, seven song set (including one cover, which I recognised but, for the life of me can't remember...) contained a nice mixture of material from the slow, haunting opening of Hurricane, which eventually built to a much louder climax, to the brash heaviness of Sucker Punch. But it was the guitar work that really caught my ear - each song seemed to contain an intricate piece of guitar, from either King or fellow guitarist Adam Brady, which sometimes didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the music but in all cases enhanced it.
This may have only been the band's second outing but, in researching this post, I realised that we had, in fact, seen another of King's bands, Satori, supporting Panic Room at the Duchess almost a year ago to the day. Both Roj and I enjoyed that performance so much that we bought the album that night. In a strange piece of symmetry, I picked up two copies of In Spades Inc's free EP preview tonight, one copy of which I have passed on to Roj. I don't think I could honestly say that I liked tonight's performance as much as I did that of Satori, but i certainly wouldn't be averse to seeing In Spades Inc again. Definitely one to watch out for.
...and now a confession. In order to remember thoughts and set-lists at gigs and to help write these posts, I make notes on my phone. Tonight there was a human/technology interface failure (I forgot to save the note I made for the headline act and subsequently managed to inadvertently delete it while the phone was in my pocket) which means that the following review is based solely on my somewhat poor recollections.
Parade are (or, possibly, were - their website says that they are changing their name) another band that we saw last year and so impressed us that we bought the album. One of the loose family of bands centred around Mostly Autumn, Parade was, at the time, made up of current MA members Ann-Marie Helder and Gavin Griffiths, past member Chris Johnson and two long-time collaborators of Johnson, Paddy Berry and Simon Snaize. Tonight ex-Yards guitarist Chris Farrell stood in for Snaize, whose name is strangely absent from the above website. Anyway, The Fabric ended up being one of my top five albums from last year and, therefore, I wasn't going to miss seeing them live again.
Tonight's set featured most, if not all, of the songs from The Fabric, including all my favourites - the epic The Diamond, the nasty The Dogs, pop-tinged but very rocky Start Again and the fantastic Feedline - along with an encore comprising of an acoustic song which I feel I should remember and a full band version of Science and Machinery. Chris Johnson played an acoustic version of the latter last Saturday. It's a song which appeared on the special edition of Mostly Autumn's Heart Full Of Sky album but which, apparently started life years before with Chris J, Chris F and Paddy, providing a nice link with tonight's line-up.
As expected the musicianship was superb. Chris Farrell played some incredible guitar, Paddy's bass was superb, at times making even the floor vibrate and Gavin's drumming was brilliant. Anne-Marie performed some pretty impressive vocal gymnastics - particularly during the wordless ending to High Life - despite apparently having voice problems during the whole of both this (very short) tour and the Panic Room one she had just completed. She and Chris perform some wonderful harmonies, which are just one of the high points of the album and live performance.
There is a reliance on technology, with a laptop tied into Anne-Marie's keyboards in order to produce some of the more unusual sounds. (There are enough pops and whistles on the album to make R2-D2 wonder if it contains a message for him...) Normally, for me, this would be enough to make me a little sceptical about the quality of the music - is it being "played" or just reproduced? But, somehow, I can forgive Parade this extravagance. Maybe it's because of the pedigree of the band members.
Anyway, the whole performance was brilliant and the whole band seemed to be enjoying themselves, playing off each other and practically pushing each other around while still managing to make wonderful music.
Hopefully, whatever the future holds for the band, they will continue to make and play such quality music.
Tonight's support act, In Spades Inc, were only playing their second gig and, in some ways, it showed. There was an air of nervousness surrounding Stewart King's self-depreciating banter, almost as though he was apologising for the band turning up. He needn't have worried. While their music couldn't be said to be completely original, there was something just a little bit different about it which made it interesting and entertaining. Their forty minute, seven song set (including one cover, which I recognised but, for the life of me can't remember...) contained a nice mixture of material from the slow, haunting opening of Hurricane, which eventually built to a much louder climax, to the brash heaviness of Sucker Punch. But it was the guitar work that really caught my ear - each song seemed to contain an intricate piece of guitar, from either King or fellow guitarist Adam Brady, which sometimes didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the music but in all cases enhanced it.
This may have only been the band's second outing but, in researching this post, I realised that we had, in fact, seen another of King's bands, Satori, supporting Panic Room at the Duchess almost a year ago to the day. Both Roj and I enjoyed that performance so much that we bought the album that night. In a strange piece of symmetry, I picked up two copies of In Spades Inc's free EP preview tonight, one copy of which I have passed on to Roj. I don't think I could honestly say that I liked tonight's performance as much as I did that of Satori, but i certainly wouldn't be averse to seeing In Spades Inc again. Definitely one to watch out for.
...and now a confession. In order to remember thoughts and set-lists at gigs and to help write these posts, I make notes on my phone. Tonight there was a human/technology interface failure (I forgot to save the note I made for the headline act and subsequently managed to inadvertently delete it while the phone was in my pocket) which means that the following review is based solely on my somewhat poor recollections.
Parade are (or, possibly, were - their website says that they are changing their name) another band that we saw last year and so impressed us that we bought the album. One of the loose family of bands centred around Mostly Autumn, Parade was, at the time, made up of current MA members Ann-Marie Helder and Gavin Griffiths, past member Chris Johnson and two long-time collaborators of Johnson, Paddy Berry and Simon Snaize. Tonight ex-Yards guitarist Chris Farrell stood in for Snaize, whose name is strangely absent from the above website. Anyway, The Fabric ended up being one of my top five albums from last year and, therefore, I wasn't going to miss seeing them live again.
Tonight's set featured most, if not all, of the songs from The Fabric, including all my favourites - the epic The Diamond, the nasty The Dogs, pop-tinged but very rocky Start Again and the fantastic Feedline - along with an encore comprising of an acoustic song which I feel I should remember and a full band version of Science and Machinery. Chris Johnson played an acoustic version of the latter last Saturday. It's a song which appeared on the special edition of Mostly Autumn's Heart Full Of Sky album but which, apparently started life years before with Chris J, Chris F and Paddy, providing a nice link with tonight's line-up.
As expected the musicianship was superb. Chris Farrell played some incredible guitar, Paddy's bass was superb, at times making even the floor vibrate and Gavin's drumming was brilliant. Anne-Marie performed some pretty impressive vocal gymnastics - particularly during the wordless ending to High Life - despite apparently having voice problems during the whole of both this (very short) tour and the Panic Room one she had just completed. She and Chris perform some wonderful harmonies, which are just one of the high points of the album and live performance.
There is a reliance on technology, with a laptop tied into Anne-Marie's keyboards in order to produce some of the more unusual sounds. (There are enough pops and whistles on the album to make R2-D2 wonder if it contains a message for him...) Normally, for me, this would be enough to make me a little sceptical about the quality of the music - is it being "played" or just reproduced? But, somehow, I can forgive Parade this extravagance. Maybe it's because of the pedigree of the band members.
Anyway, the whole performance was brilliant and the whole band seemed to be enjoying themselves, playing off each other and practically pushing each other around while still managing to make wonderful music.
Hopefully, whatever the future holds for the band, they will continue to make and play such quality music.
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