York 800 MOR Music Festival–Parliament Street, 07/07/12

While bad weather had put paid to the river-based activities this weekend, arguably the most ambitious gig that I can remember being staged in York was proclaimed to be going ahead. As part of the celebrations of the 800th anniversary or York’s Royal Charter, MOR Music had organised a festival – 800 minutes of live music, spread across nineteen acts, with most getting a half hour slot and just five minutes in between each one - in the middle of one of the city’s busiest and, thankfully, widest shopping streets. With rain forecast, I packed waterproofs and umbrellas and dragged the family off to spend as much time there as possible.

We missed the first act, Plumhall, but I had seen them a couple of weeks earlier and, spotting them in the crowd, managed to pass on another couple of hybrid tribute acts (Seasick Stevie Wonder and GeneSisters of Mercy) for their collection. Holly Taymar, aided as usual (at least in my experience) by Chris Bilton, was next up, her sweet vocals occasionally counterpointed by Chris’ brash guitar. Stand-out songs from this set were a chilled out cover of Hot Stuff, in tribute to Donna Summer, and Holly’s own Toes which, despite only having heard it twice, is one of my favourite songs that I don’t have in my collection.

I hadn’t come across According To Eve before today. Apparently they are usually a trio but are today playing as the original duo format. Songs such as Forget-Me-Nots, Everybody Says It’s You and the slightly funkier No Shadow showed off the talents of both Eve Maule-Cole’s soulful vocals and Tim Downie’s guitar harmonies, while Arms Wide Open, along with another song whose name I can’t read from my notes, showed off a brasher, more unusual guitar style. Worth looking out for.

By his own admission, Graham Hodge isn’t clever enough to write his one material yet, so he treated us with a set of covers from the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul Brady and Bruce Cockburn. Perhaps a little nervous between songs, his broad Yorkshire speaking voice morphed into something with a hint of Paul Simon when he started singing.

It took a few songs for Hungry Ghosts to catch on with me but, once they did, I realised that I had thoroughly enjoyed their set. They perform an edgy kind of electro-rock with band members rotating around instruments and sharing vocals to perform songs including Jumping Through Hoops and By The Bridge.

Having enjoyed their debut album I was looking forward to seeing theFALLEN, although wondered whether their brand of hard rock (which seems to be, in my opinion, aimed more at a younger audience than me) would appeal to the lunchtime “crowd” or passers-by. However, despite coming on stage dressed as though they were heading for a promotional photo-shoot, their set featured stripped down versions of some of the songs from the album, changed so much that I barely recognised even my favourites. Despite one slightly self-indulgent cover and Johnny’s voice being too low in the mix at the start of the set, the choice of performance worked well.

Personally, I would question why an event that was, at least in part, designed to showcase local music talent needed a band like Huge. It’s not like they need the exposure, although I suppose they could have been there to drag in the punters. They are very good at what they do, which is perform covers and get audiences up and moving but I’m sure that their seventy minute set could have been split between two smaller acts just as easily. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy their set, it just seemed a little out of place to me, compared to what else was on show.

After three livelier acts, it was back to quieter acoustic styles with the next few acts. I’m afraid that a “comfort break” followed by a trip to the bar meant that I missed a good portion of  Jonny Dobbs’ set, although I have seen him a couple of times before. I did manage to catch the enjoyable Devil In Me and Brand New. Similarly, a trip for an ice-cream with my daughter meant that I missed some of the next set. Jonny Gill has a great voice which we could, just about, hear while we were scoffing our frozen delicacies, despite the kiosk being behind the stage. We did get back in time to listen properly to Friday Night Lights and A Friend Indeed. This acoustic section was rounded of by Nathan Luke, who I haven’t come across before and who started off his set with the downbeat (and, perhaps, slightly macabre) Body In A Box and Buried before moving onto his forthcoming single Honest Love. Again, a nice voice but, if I’m honest, Nathan suffered a bit from being at the end of a section of the day that contained some too similar acts.

It was back to more energetic things with Curious Yak, another band who I haven’t come across before. A (ahem) curious mix of atmosphere and distortion, I’m afraid that I just didn’t “get” this set, although their cover of Helter Skelter was enjoyable.

For most of the day, things had been going more or less to schedule. Captain Zippy’s drummer did his best to scupper that by leaving some of his equipment in the singer’s car, leading to one of the band publically berating him, making sure everybody knew who was at fault for the aimless milling about on stage. It seemed a good time (in more ways than one…) to take Elizabeth off for her own comfort break. Unfortunately, by the time we got back, what must have been a fore-shortened set was drawing to a close, which was a shame because I get the impression that this could have been one of the more fun bands of the day.

I can’t seem to find anything on-line for Turnpike Trust, apart from a mention in a Gazette and Herald events listing. If anybody knows different, let me know as they deserve linking. I’m fairly certain that they only performed covers of a rock ‘n’ roll, rhythm and blues type, nothing I recognised but plenty that I enjoyed.

By this time, the hunger pangs were setting in, so we decided to forego seeing Funktion and head off to Pizza Hut for some much needed sustenance. In hindsight, given that they seem to be a covers band who play, among other things, soul and funk, this was probably a good decision from my point of view. Nothing against the band, but they don’t sound like my cup of tea.

We returned to find rumpled and somewhat humble Scotsman David Ward Maclean on stage and getting the audience going with his covers of Let It Be, I Heard It On The Grapevine and Stand By Me. I believe that he is a well-respected songwriter in his own right, so it seems strange that he chose to perform covers (unless his own songs were at the beginning of his set).

Darkness was just beginning to fall now and the evening part of the show saw compere extraordinaire Alexander King (“I’d like to point out that even though I’m a compere called Alexander, I’m not a meerkat” – well, it made me laugh) take to the stage to introduce the rest of the acts. First up in this section was Jamie Humphries. I don’t know whether he is from York but I believe he had been giving guitar demonstrations at MOR Music throughout the day. Having played with some of the world’s top musicians, Jamie treated us to some guitar gymnastics, playing with just the aid of a backing track and, if I recall correctly, performing just three or four what were, effectively, quite simply stunning solos in his thirty minute set.

The rocking continued after that with Aynt Skynyrd who are, obviously a tribute band to Lynyrd Skynyrd. Now, I like the originals, although I don’t have much of their output in my collection, but so varied is the performance by Aynt Skynyrd that they were three songs in before I recognised a song. The classics made up the back end of the set, with Three Steps and Sweet Home Alabama being played to a crowd who were increasingly finding the urge to get up and dance. Finally, vocalist Mick Sawyer asked, “As the great Ronnie Van Zandt used to ask, what do you want to hear?” Unsurprisingly, the expected answer came back and the band launched into as good a live rendition of Freebird as you are likely to hear outside the original band. “I wish you’d make it longer,” quipped Mr King as the band left the stage.

With a flagging nine-year-old (who had experienced her first bout of head-banging dancing along to Freebird with, I think, Sawyer’s daughter) we had to leave at this point so we missed The Buccaneers and The Littlemores, both of whom I had seen and enjoyed before.

Ambitious the day might have been, but it all seemed to go well (band issues notwithstanding) and, despite continuing well into the night and, therefore, having the potential for those who had, maybe, a little too much to drink to become slightly rambunctious, it seems to have gone off without any trouble being reported. Even the rain stayed away, making the aforementioned waterproofs and umbrellas somewhat extraneous. From a personal point of view, I think there was too much emphasis on acoustic acts, especially male ones, throughout the day – too many, one after another and they begin to blur into one to me. Apparently, MOR Music originally had over two hundred bands wanting to play. I find it strange that there wasn’t a bit more variety. Having said that, overall it was a brilliant day with a bit of something for everyone. Hopefully it will happen again, perhaps annually. Well done to all involved.

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.