Wolverhampton, 29 May 2010 - on the road again....

Keeping this short today as it’s now 3am and we’ve got another long journey ahead of us tomorrow. Despite the worst the weather, the bank holiday traffic and the Wolverhampton ring-road could throw at us we (Deb, Karen and Deb’s daughter, Jess) actually got to the venue today with ten minutes to spare before the doors opened. The grey exterior of the hall said more 1930’s municipal baths than concert venue, but the unassuming exterior belied the array of musical jewels contained within.

Good to see Mal and Roz, Ray and Rob, Paul, Craig, PeterJH and Mike J all there and especially Mike Sodl all the way from America. The place was filled with a huge standing crowd all the way from the stage to the sound and lighting desk. It was steaming hot, both the music and the hall itself; in fact when Deb brought Karen a huge glass of iced water she didn’t really know whether to drink it or pour it over her head.
The delightful Lartey sisters, Faye and Ashley took to the stage; their stunning half hour set   commenced  with  ‘Dreaming with Both Eyes Open’,  Ashley’s clear and sweet voice filling this vast hall and exuding a confidence, which, it’s obvious to us, has  blossomed, alongside  Fayes excellent guitar work, since their first night of the tour in Edinburgh. Amongst their other numbers were ‘Burning Bridges’, the recently titled ‘The Light’, ‘Drifting’ the stupendous solo instrumental and the track that Steve and the band have helped them with, ‘Nobody’s Here’. All around us were captivated and more than a little impressed.

As the lights dimmed after the short interval, the cries of ‘Steevo’ and ‘Harley’ started up in the darkness and the anticipation mounted. One minute the stage was dark and next it was bathed in glorious light as Steve swung round, counting in the band and launched into Faith and Virtue; we looked at Pete’s face (his first concert of the tour) and the grin just said wow! Next those Psychomodo sounds rocked the Wulfrun Hall, the man next to us was dancing and singing his heart out, in fact the whole place was singing along. A date with Judy Teen and the wonderful Panorama followed with a gorgeous stunning new little ending by Robbie – wow!

A hushed silence greets the powerful No Bleeding Hearts, which, whilst dramatic enough on CD, shifts into another gear during live performance as Steve stared out across the sea of heads thinking, no doubt, of those dark and oppressive conditions in the South African diamond mines. Daniel Johnston’s True Love Will Find You in The End producesincredible melodica sounds from James and similar from Barry’s violin. Mirror Freak takes us back to a time when the seventies were cherished, not thrown away and This Old Man is a celebration of a life, a type, someone he knows, someone we all know or would have liked to have known.

Delicious keyboard and guitar moments follow as All The Men Are Hungry is greeted with claps and cheers for the man performing and mass choral singing fills the hall and spills over into Mr Raffles which ends in a crescendo of duelling drums between James and Stuart – fantastic! We were having a party! More singing as Here Comes the Sun rings out and the smiles are on the faces on stage.

Baby Shoes and once more Ashley accompanies Steve on vocals, adding pathos to the already sad lyrics with James’ dulcimer ringing out. Then onto the Lighthouse – step into the light with your violin (Barry Wickens) as Steve wonders why his light keeps on shining but to us it’s truly evident tonight and the drums are crashing like waves breaking on rocks and the whole room is in awash with the sound of the sea.

Another jewel from the new album and we are Blinded with Tears before Mr Soft  and then a chance for the crowd to sing as the first bars of Tumbling Down commence, the harmonica wails and the crowd cat-a-wailing reaches a raucous climax with ‘oh dear look what they’ve done to the blues.....’  ‘Sound good’ he says and threatens one day to start with this song at the beginning of his two and a half hour set and then walk off – could we keep this up for that amount of time? – looking around at the earnest faces and passionate voices of Wolverhampton, we certainly wouldn’t be betting against it.

Stranger Comes to Town, the title track from the new album is rapidly becoming an audience favourite and is followed by a truly awesome Sebastian with Steve orchestrating his talented band of musicians. Tonight he hushes all, until only Ashley’s flute and Barry’s violin can be heard before slowly and deliberately adding in the tinkling piano and Lincoln’s deep and melodic bass and finally Stuart’s drums until you could be standing in front of a huge orchestra in a world-famous symphony hall instead of just these eight musicians on stage in the middle of Wolverhampton.

Journey’s End and Make Me Smile top off the evening as the encore icing and with the final notes ringing in our ears, the departing crowd buzzing with excitement, we step out into the cold air, where Karen demonstrates her poster acquiring skills, we say our fond farewells and agree to meet up with some the following night for more ....give us more!
Never mind which way to Buxton? How the hell do we get out of this car park then, Deborah?........