New rave? Forget about it.
The ever revolving musical fashions of today have moved back right around to good, classic, simple songwriting and things are all the more exciting for it. Tonight the ABC sees one of the most promising nights in terms of line-up with not only Fyfe Dangerfield of Guillemots fame but also hotly tipped Oxford outfit Stornoway.
That’s not to forget about Villagers. Playing a solo show, Conor J. O’Brien may only be playing to an early doors crowd of around forty to begin with but his voice and songcraft proves effective for a venue that can be quite cavernous if there’s nobody to fill it. ‘Pieces’ is particularly enjoyable even though O’Brien admits to being slightly ashamed of the song.. There’s not a weak moment in his half hour set and one would assume that he has the potential to carve himself his own little niche in the same way that Fionn Regan and a few notable others have in recent times.
Unusually there is no break between Villagers and Stornoway due to a half and half stage set-up and after such an impressive opening performance, it doesn’t suit Stornoway at all. Where ‘On The Rocks’ and the gorgeous ‘Zorbing’ shine brightly, the likes of ‘We Are The Battery Human’ are musically generic and lyrically clunky. After releasing two promising singles in the aforementioned ‘Zorbing’ and ‘Unfaithful’ (which is bizarrely omitted tonight) there are signs that Stornoway need at least another three killer songs to deliver a set that’s punching at the right weight. We can only hope that they find these because when they get it right, they get it very right indeed.
All-seated gigs are often akward affairs, especially with a hall that isn’t entirely full. The key factor is often the personality of the artist in these situations. It’s just as well that Fyfe Dangerfield is a man born to perform. He oozes charisma, comically posing for the three cameramen snapping away before first song ‘Livewire’.
He plays almost entirely acoustically, sometimes with two violinists, sometimes with an electric guitar, a loop pedal and a drum machine or sat at his keyboard. It’s a rare opportunity for him to showcase his voice which is often hidden away behind the sometimes forced eccentricities of his other band.
Some might say that the way that the likes of ‘When You Walk Into The Room’ or ‘Barricades’ are more enjoyable in their stripped back stage than the more complicated album arrangements. When there’s no main distractions from his voice and lyrics it shows that he’s a lot more talented than some may give him credit for. ‘Don’t Be Shy’ is a tender lament that has been doing the rounds since 2006 and latest single ‘She Needs Me’ sounds like much more of a credible song in its embryonic stage than when surrounded by heaps of strings and percussion.
It’s arguable that the show could have done without the Girls Aloud cover and the closing song; a version of ‘Made Up Love Song #43’ played on the ukelele as his solo material is strong enough without having to resort to playing Guillemots songs to please the crowd.
The majority of people would have been more than happy to leave on the catchy and upbeat ‘Any Direction’.
Two and a half hours after Villagers has taken to the stage, a few hundred people leave the ABC happy and quite probably a little more optimistic than before.
All without a neon garment in sight.
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
Photos by Andrew McKenna