Last Week In London
- Posted on January 3, 2008 10:58 AM
- 0 comments
THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS
By Peter Coulston
So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Not a lot if you are anything like me. The tree is up but there are no presents under it and I haven’t even seen a turkey yet. Never mind, there’s plenty of time; isn’t there? Had to get a few gigs out of the way first; beginning with The Bullet Bar in Camden. I know that I was there last week, but the live gigs are rapidly drying up and I knew that this was their last one before Christmas. It was a good one, even if there weren’t many punters. Aaron Short, who hosts the show and runs the night, opened the proceedings with my favourite Christmas song (in fact, it’s probably the only one I really like), “Fairytale of New York”. Apart from the fact that Aaron was sober and has a full set of teeth, it was just like Shane McGowan.
Next was Tom Murray, who was billed as Toute Sweet, which is the name of his mypace. In any event, he is a fine singer/songwriter who plays and sings his well-structured songs very well. I liked “Changing Colours” and “Stephanie Jones” and hope to run across him again. Brown Music consist of Tash, Loretta and Johann on vocals with Matt on bass and Johann also adding very effective guitar. The two and three part harmonies were perfect and each could take lead vocals with no problem. They opened for Take That on their last tour and are very polished. I just wished that the songs had been a bit more adventurous, but I have no doubt that you will hear from them in 2008. Their myspace is brownmusicuk.
Now if you want adventurous, Kit Richardson most certainly fits the bill. She is everything that new music should be about, moving the boundaries and ignoring whatever is currently deemed to be”in”. With her manic keyboard style and her amazing vocals, she is Kate Bush meets Kate Nash. The songs are brilliantly constructed and the sheer energy and innovation of her performance cannot be ignored. She is great, and I intend following her very closely in the New Year. Check her out at kitrichardsonmusic. Before I left at 11pm, New Arcadians came on and did some very competent indie/rock. A four piece guitar band, they suffered a little from sound problems on the vocals, which seems to happen often to bands at this venue. They sounded good but could have been tighter, maybe due to lack of adequate sound check.
To finish the week with some Christmas cheer, the place to be was The Bedford in Balham, where there is always one of the best Christmas bashes of the season. Needless to say, this year was no exception. The show was hosted, opened and closed by Tony Moore, dressed in a Santa hat and a jacket and trouser combination that you would expect from Elton John. Well, Tony does play a pretty mean piano. Moving right along, we heard Katy Shotter, a very talented pianist and singer/songwriter who performed some of her own material as well as a fine rendition of “Summertime”. She has recently opened for Beyonce, and we will certainly be hearing more of her in 2008.
Next came a very welcome surprise guest in the form of Antonio Forcione, a virtuoso guitarist who throws traditional guitar styles out of the window. Dubbed the Jimi Hendrix of acoustic guitar, he performed some excellent pieces, including one with his daughter on piano. His version of “Heard It On The Grapevine” was awesome. Sonna is another excellent singer/songwriter in the acoustic/soul mode who entertained us with some lyrically well crafted material while playing guitar or piano. The untitled song about newspapers was great. Jamie Scott played without his backing band and managed admirably. His songs are indie acoustic with a strong country feel, which was apparent on “Standing In The Rain”, his current single. He has opened for Take That (how many opening acts do they need?) and will be doing the same for Kelly Clarkson in the New Year. How come the opening acts are so often better that the headliners? Never mind; it’s Christmas. Watch out, he’s going to be big.
Another singer/songwriter completed the lineup; the brilliant Rob Reynolds. His great voice and guitar do justice to his fine songs and we were treated to a duet with Antonio Forcione on guitar for “Coming Home” and “Who’s To Say”. Two masters of their craft performing together; what can I say? The evening ended with a Tony Moore led supergroup which made use of Antonio and Katy on “Died In Your Arms Tonight”, Tony’s big hit with Cutting Crew. He also had Franz on bass, Michael on guitar and David Stark, the founder and editor of Songlink, on drums to assist on “The Best Day Of Your Life”. A great way to prepare for Christmas and I thank Tony and all the other venue organisers who work so hard all year to promote the great shows that I have the pleasure and privilege of reviewing.
Before I go off to celebrate the festive season in the traditional way, I would like to reflect on the past year. I originally intended to ramble on about the great internationally acclaimed artists that I have seen and enjoyed during 2007, as well as giving space to the artists and bands that I have supported over the past year. I then realised that, when you cover live music for around 50 weeks of the year, it would be very long and probably very boring, given that you have all read all my articles and probably saved them for future reference. No?, well I hope you at least read them. If you did, you would have picked up on my enthusiasm and optimism for the following shortlist of the stars of 2008.
Starting with bands, Big Linda are still the best band that I have seen this year, I am gutted that I have not seen them again since their Troubadour gig, but, given the current Led Zeppelin revival, this has to be their year. For sheer professionalism and hard work, the next year should be good for The Keitels, The Whybirds, and Sunsoma. The male solo artist who so deserves to break through next year is Karim Fanous, who has it all, but most of all, has a great love of performing music; and is not afraid to show it. I have seen some brilliant female singer/songwriters over the year, but I have to say that, for originality and presentation, I will be looking for Molly Beanland and Rokhsan Heydari to break through in the coming year.
Finally, I love acts that do not fit the mould, refuse to conform, and challenge the status quo; because that is where all the great music that we have today came from. Playing safe is boring. For reasons outlined in my columns over the past year, I want to see these people being heard. Bands like The Challenge of Feral Green, Left With Pictures and Ox Eagle Lion Man are breaching the barriers as are solo artists like Kit Richardson and Tim Ten Yen. The very fact that The Spice Girls are back tells us that music in the UK needs a shake up; and these are the people to do it. It’s up to you and I to see that it happens, so, please support live music in the coming year and, in the meantime, have a great holiday. Stay safe and well and join me again in 2008.
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