Skip to main content

Newton Faulkner. Hall for Cornwall, Truro. 4th Dec 2007.

Newton Faulkner’s returned to Truro after visiting Europe this autumn. He’s a sell out in most British venues and his last date is back in Cornwall where, only in March, he was the support for James Morrison.

Since the success of his single Dream Catch Me with its summer sound that gets right in your head and stays there, he’s also getting plenty of airtime for his new single, Teardrop. Relaxed and easy on stage, Faulkner chats between numbers, his long dreads swinging in front of his face. He goes into a soft reggae song, just off the beat, for ‘People Should Smile More’ and the warm crowd of 1700 go crazy for him, cheering, waving and calling out, ‘I Love You.’

Strumming and banging, using his guitar as percussion, he’s backed up by bongos and a bassist, and moves from ballad to funk. He’s got such a great voice it seems he can’t make an ugly sound, then he shifts into a stomping rhythm for ‘UFO.’ Whatever he does the crowd love it, and he’s having fun. He raises a finger - they cheer, his other hand - they are delighted. He stands still and smiles - they’re ecstatic.

He gets them singing along to the mellow ‘All I Got,’ and has them singing through the whole set. He says between numbers that when he started out two and a half years ago he had to think what to say while he tuned and retuned his guitar, but these days he’s handed the guitar all set up. He shakes his head and seems surprised at his success. Grinning and happy to be here, he's confident, playful, messing around and getting a jangling, funky sound from his guitar.

His new single Teardrop was released just yesterday. He says he first played it here and it was the greatest moment of his life. The solid drum backing and intense harmonies give this song real depth, and it shows his voice at its best: passionate with terrific control, he slips easily from smoothly melodic to soulful and husky.

From that fine song he chuckles and tells us an anecdote about a random encounter with an evil hot girl on a train and it’s clear he doesn’t take himself and maybe anyone else that seriously. It’s a varied set; he enjoys playing around with sound, and he has an enviable rapport with his audience that makes him seem like the popular guy in the University common room, always cheerful and acting a bit of a clown.

After the light acoustic ‘Feels Like Home,’ he passes on a ‘beautiful message’ from a guy in the audience: a marriage proposal and a great chorus of Yes! - the perfect moment to give us the tender Dream Catch Me. He stands alone on the stage for what feels like a classic song. The audience are still singing with him, sharing this couple’s romantic moment.

It’s a terrific atmosphere and he keeps it going with a few different pieces for his encore, ending, rather oddly with Bohemian Rhapsody, quite a feat for one man and an acoustic guitar. Although this cover is a curious choice to follow a highly individualistic set, it’s a perfect demonstration of his delight in experimenting, and his refreshingly light hearted approach. Apart from all the mucking about though, there were bits of classical guitar playing thrown in here and there which suggest he’s got a lot more styles up his sleeve to play around with.

He’s off to win over America and Canada in January. The only way is up.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Running ‘till your nipples bleed

An email from a friend of mine arrives; she complains that, at work, she is routinely subjected to gruesome accounts of female colleagues’ intimate medical procedures and gynaecological problems. I am all commiseration because I, too, have had years of listening to workplace chats about periods, childbirth and sex lives. Oh please. Later, I wander off for a walk in the early evening sunshine and it is so silent and so beautiful that I flop down on the grass and lay awhile gazing out over the rolling fields, and the mouth of the river, and fall into a reverie. Two men pass by. A few minutes later sounds of women’s talk float nearer and, by the time the two females of the species draw level with me, I have risen up from my deliciously recumbent position in the meadow, alert and tense, something like a meerkat. “I do feel for her. Going down that IVF route is such an emotional roller coaster. I was never prepared for how terrible it was going to be.” I remain frozen in my meerkat position...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ian McEwan. Amsterdam. London: QPD, 1998

McEwan’s novel about ambition, personal betrayal and revenge features Clive, a modern composer trying to complete a major orchestral work, his friend Vernon, an editor trying to save his ailing newspaper, and Garmony, an unscrupulous right-wing politician on the rise. In common, all three have, in previous years, been lovers of recently dead Molly. They meet at her funeral and the story follows the next few weeks of the men’s lives. Vernon and Clive act as one another’s conscience, each infuriating the other. Which is more important, honesty, friendship and trust or Vernon’s newspaper and Clive’s symphony? The novel presents the difficulties of balancing personal and public morality, the importance of private shame and public reputation, the conflict between taking a moral decision for the greater good, or putting first ones own desires. Not just a simple exposé of a politician with a vulnerable side, Amsterdam is full of double standards and surprises, and takes a long, cynical look a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ralph McTell, Truro, 19 April 2007

Ralph's mates from Pentewan have all turned up in a mini bus to hear him sing and play, and he walks onto the stage looking comfortable; he's amongst friends. He's a big man; very charismatic, with a warm smile and a beguiling aura of powerful gentleness. He's relaxed, we're relaxed, and he sits with his guitar, chatting easily between songs, and playing with an easy familiarity with us, and with his material. His guitar playing is intricate and playful; going from ragtime to blues to folk, and his voice is deep and rich. He comments that he's put together quite a serious programme for the two hours he's on stage; it's true that the lyrics are thoughtful and the subjects serious, but there is light material too; a tune about Laurel and Hardy, and one or two covers of old blues numbers. When he sings Streets of London there are happy sighs and the audience sing along very softly; as softly as a whisper. It feels as intimate as if we were just a few people...
Post a Comment
Read more