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Date -
24/11/04 |
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| Readers' score - None |
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| This TinyVoices reporter doesn’t get to go to many gigs of the not-an-extremely-loud-rock/metal-band variety, as all my favourite acoustic artists keep either canceling, not playing at all in the first place, or just keep being dead. So naturally, I expected something a little quieter than usual. Not so – earplugs would’ve been handy actually, both because of the volume of applause constantly received and the sheer intensity of some of the music. |
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Not to say the ear pain wasn’t entirely worth it. Tom McRae, folky-acoustic-troubadour-with-band, is an amazingly talented guy both where songwriting and singing is concerned, and tonight he was ably backed by violin, cello, piano, bass, another guitarist besides himself and a big fuck-off drumkit.
Thus the crowd was treated both to intimate renditions of jaw-droppingly beautiful songs such as "Walking 2 Hawaii", "Ghost of a Shark" and "You Only Disappear", as well as transcendently rocksome versions of "Karaoke Soul" (on which McRae’s soaring vocals really were a treat) and "A & B Song", which featured some fantastically threatening staccato cello work from Oli Kraus. As if the performance wasn’t darkly powerful enough, with McRae wailing “All our time slips away! / The blood is rising…the blood is rising!” These things never come across in type, but it was chilling stuff…the sense of darkness in some of his songs is almost palpable. Yet there is always beauty in the majestic yet human way he paints such things.
McRae is one of those people you can’t help but be slightly jealous of. He can write his arse off song-wise, his lyrics are superb, his singing voice is soaring, penetrative and seemingly a force of its own sometimes, and to top it all off he’s a handsome chap who had the audience in the palm of his hand all night and even had girls shouting they’d help him get changed afterwards. And then he made everyone laugh constantly as well.
Don’t let that put you off though – this is one of the most gifted songwriters you will see in this day and age and one of the most intense performances as well. If you don’t feel moved afterwards, you’re probably dead. The only criticism is that the encore material wasn’t quite as good as what preceded it, which isn’t a good way to end a show. |
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| Dan Snowdon |
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