Venue:
Guildford Civic Hall
Date: 15/02/2016
I’ve always rather liked Paul Carrack – especially his singing. He has an effortlessly great voice. Mrs LB knows this and so bought me tickets to see him and his band at the Guildford Civic Hall (Well, its the Civic Hall according to my satnav, G Live to ‘ver kids and marketing professionals).
First, a word for the support act. Robert Vincent, a scouse singer songwriter in need of a haircut. Armed with a great voice, some immediately great, downbeat songs, he was excellent.
Then on the main show. Carrack, looking like Bono would if he aged gracefully, and his band launched into a Mike & The Mechanics number. I knew this much because it a) had two synths being played and b) had no showy off guitar solos. It was a good start – the man can sing and the band can play. The next song was jaunty enough – mid paced polished blues. The song was stretched to breaking point by a sax solo, bass solo (I’ve genuinely not seen one of these before) and then guitar solo followed by some piano solo. I got a little bit bored.
This set the pattern for the evening. Songs were either great (the Mechanics, Ace and Squeeze tunes), good (the shorter, non fretwankery songs) or good but tailed of after 5 or 6 minutes. I also noticed just how good the lyrics to Tempted were in comparison to the Carrack originals which, were full of standard rock rhymes about love, how his heart feels, etc. It was a breath of fresh air.
I enjoyed the gig – the band could play and he can sing. But it was a little too polished (apart from the bum chord the guitarist hit during a strangely unemotional Living Years) and devoid of emotion.
The audience:
Oh to be young again. Well, I felt a little bit younger than normal with this lot. The man in front of me went to the loo twiche and then proceeded to dance with his hands in his fleece pocket. I can’t be sure, but he may have been on Werthers Originals. There is a lot of love for Mr Carrack (deservedly so) and the show was sold out. The standing, clapping and singing along for the encore songs seemed to remind us all of a distant past. Still, it’s nice to go to a gig where there isn’t some drunk hipster talking loudly about work. That’s the beauty of going to gigs with retirees.
It made me think..
I wish I’d seen him at his peak. Don’t get me wrong, the band are great and Carrack is a good performer with a great voice. But this felt a little bit like a show rather than a gig.
Saw him at Bristol with the GLW. Thoroughly enjoyed it but agree with you the songs occasionally dragged a bit.
Don’t know if the band set up was the same for you but the keyboard player on the left (Not the sax playing one) didn’t seem to do a lot, although he seemed to bang a mean tambourine. Also two drummers? Never understood that.
Same set up. We liked the extra keyboard player as he also doubled up as a roadie it seemed. I had exactly the same thought about two drummers.
I also came up with a new rule – no rock song is ever improved by the addition of a flute.
I had exactly the same experience both times I’ve seen him – great voice and band but just got a bit restless after about 40 mins. All a bit too smooth perhaps.
We go and see him every tour (missing out this year, due to Father in Law’s birthday – tickets have gone to a good Afterword home). I go for that voice, as I think it is one of the best. I know what you mean about some of the songs. The band have been with him for yonks. He found them in a pub in Sheffield. The second keyboard player also runs the website, etc. The second drummer (on the right as you look at the stage) is a relatively new addition to the band – it’s Paul’s son. When you’ve had as long a career as Paul, and it’s your band, why not?
I love the fact that Paul makes sure that, during the football season, the promoter isn’t allowed to book any Saturday gigs when Sheffield Wednesday are at home. I think that Paul, and nearly the whole band, are season ticket holders.
I’d sort of hoped that the second drummer and second keyboard player had backstories like that. Didn’t realise they were all Sheffield Wednesday fans though.
You’re right about the voice though – it’s holding up well.
@niallb your loss was my gain. Thanks for the tickets – we had a fabulous night and conversely to the point made in the OP I enjoyed the numbers where the band rocked out most. I have Paul Carrack music on cd and love his voice. Having never seen him before I was more than surprised at how good a musician he is on north guitar and keyboards. For some reason I thought he was just the voice. New material sounded great too. Agree with leedsboy though about the flute.
Glad the tickets went to a good home.
That is obviously both guitar and keyboards not north guitar.