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Richard Hawley

by 33 Comments

Venue:

EartH, Hackney, Dalston, Stoke Newington, That London

Date: 06/05/2019

‘It always makes us nervous playing new songs’ says Richard about mid gig, ‘ I hope you don’t mind’.

A wag in the audience suggesting they play some old is jovially called a ‘see-you-next-Tuesday’ before the band launch into ‘Tonight The Streets Are Ours’ after which Hawley gives the fella a thumbs up and grin. Its been two and a half years but at the opening night of his two night stand in the capital its very much business as usual

EartH, down one end of Stoke Newington High Street, was once a Savoy picturehouse which fell into disuse during the 80s cinema slump, faded into a snooker hall and then pigeon roost & toilet. A multi million pound grant has seen it reopen as a multi use venue although a bar & restaurant tacked on the side is the most obvious sign of where the cash has gone. The actual auditorium is shorn of any fittings, seats or facilities – beer is sold in cans and its £2 to hire a cushion to save your bum chaffing on the stone steps. However as Richard described it as “a bit like us, fucked up but somehow right” its turns out to be an excellent venue with great sound. Its easy to get up close whether sitting and standing and there are no bad sightlines. I truly hope they get the regular business they deserve as London has needed a venue like this since the death of the Astoria.

As suggested, Richard Hawley has his new album ‘Further’ and he plays all of it across an evening that goes from pin drop emotional ballad ‘For Your Lover Take Some Time’ – “this is the quietest song I ever wrote so if you could talk all the way through it that would be fuckin’ mint” he kindly warns – to the psychedelic wig out squalling of ‘Down In the Woods’ from ‘Standing At The Sky’s Edge’. Indeed it is the title track of that album early doors that makes you catch your breath as Hawley’s rich tones fill the room backed by a droning rolling sound.

The new material melts in with the old favourites quite seamlessly. ‘Coles Corner’ topped off with some gorgeously mournful mouth harp from Clive Mellor gives way to ‘Midnight Train’ which has that same wanting, waiting and everyday wonder that seeps through Richard’s work. His regular band is joined by a female string section – “the Lads” – as well as horns. New un’ ‘Doors’ has effortless pop touch and the aforementioned ‘For Your Lover’ backed by those strings and a lightly plucked guitar is simply sublime. Following that up with the driving guitar led ‘Galley Girl’ perfectly encapsulates the shifting energy of tonight’s set with ‘Time Is’ being a sprawling beast of a thing. The new album is shaping up to be a belter

The encore opens with Richard’s tale of his boy, Danny’s 19th birthday, with a storytelling skill and sense of timing which would make any stand up comedian proud in which ‘he and his mates, who are, to a man, absolute fuckwits, lovely but fuckwits” all drink 19 tequilas each to celebrate. The melancholy ‘Not Lonely’ – “loneliness does mean being on your own” says much about aging, family and the future. A fan tosses a gift up on stage, a ‘Fuck Brexit’ badge which garners a ‘Well you know, I say, fuck all of it’ before a suitably moody and defiant ‘There’s A Storm Coming’ that is, lets face it – a glorious racket.

The audience:

In the palm of his H

It made me think..

National bloody treasure – like the venue – ragged but right

11

Comments

  3. Looking forward to new album. He is great on stage. Engages the audience wonderfully. That 19 tequilas story reminds me of my 21st where my “mates” attempted to give me 21 bongs. After about ten I started puffing up. The recently installed seat belts were handy in keeping me in the seat on the way home. The ritual was discontinued after that.

    Oh yeah. Nice review as expected DFB.

  4. Splendid account, DFB. You’ve brilliantly communicated the general feel of both the gig and the venue, and prompted me to check out his tour dates – nothing in this neck of the woods at the moment sadly – and I now have the forthcoming ‘Further’ album pre-ordered. Ta muchly for the heads-up!

  5. None down any neck of the woods, according to his web site. Reviews like this are expensive to read and he will, eventually, tour, I hope. There get fewer and fewer folk I want still to see, he being one.

          • It could be that, like Paul Heaton, it’s a legit way of avoiding eye contact with the audience. He strikes me as quite a shy performer as a musician, even though he’s outstandingly good at the talky stuff between the songs (stories, jokes, hecklers)

            • Yes. Maybe. Certainly the case for artists like Brian Wilson and (probably) Van Morrison. Springsteen started to use a video prompter about 20 yrs ago, so that would have been at a similar age.

                • Quite a lot of singers use iPads etc. to remind them of the lyrics they’re singing. They even make special tablet holders that clamp onto microphone stands for them.
                  A couple of very accomplished singers I know both use iPads. I don’t know the female of the two well enough to comment, but the male has an absolutely encyclopeadic knowledge and repertoire of songs in the funk/soul and jazz standard genres. I suspect his perfectionism demands that he never ever fluffs the words to a song so he uses the screen “just in case”.
                  Another guy I know is principal singer with two tribute bands, one being a Dylan tribute and the other Steely Dan. He never uses lyric sheets, a tablet or a prompt, despite both bands having a very large repertoire of their artists songs. Only very rarely does he fluff a line. He obviously has a particularly good memory for song lyrics.

                  • Dylan and Dan tributes must be a special case because of the sheer volume of words in the lyrics.

                    When you’ve seen a 2 Unlimited tribute act with music stands, I fear it may well be the end of days.

  8. I really like Richard Hawley but there’s only one album I enjoy all the way through. That album, Truelove’s Gutter, I happen to consider a masterpiece of the 21st Century. I could wallow in it for days on end. Hollow Meadows is next best for me but Standing At The Sky’s Edge leaves me cold. I have very high hopes for the new one and therein lies the problem. Maybe, my expectations are too high, raised to impossible heights because of material he released ten years ago.

    Still, this great review makes me determined to see him live.

  9. Really enjoyed your review DFB. Richard Hawley is indeed a national treasure and his discography is a treasure in itself.

    Ordered the new LP & CD from his interweb site, looking forward to it, didn’t realise how long it’s been since SATSE.

  11. I am looking forward to the new album. Everything I have heard so far has been great and I think it might be one of his best.

    Being lucky enough to live in Sheffield, I have been able to see him live a few times over the past couple of years. At the 3 Ring Circus event annually (acoustic with Shez Sheridan and Clive Mellor) and at the Devil’s Arse (a cave) in Castleton. However, it was Glastonbury 2016 that I last saw him with full band.

    I saw the Standing at the Sky’s Edge musical at The Crucible a few weeks back. I didn’t know how it would be seeing other people perform his songs in the context of a play about a block of flats, but it was superb. I found I had a lump in my throat and something in my eye for much of it. Very moving.

    Not sure when the tour will be, but hope it won’t be long.

  15. Full fall UK tour announced

    Wed 2 Oct – O2 Academy, Bristol
    Thu 3 Oct – University Great Hall, Cardiff
    Fri 4 Oct – UEA, Norwich
    Sun 6 Oct – O2 Academy, Oxford
    Mon 7 Oct – Albert Hall, Manchester
    Tue 8 Oct – Guild of Students, Liverpool
    Thu 10 Oct – O2 Institute, Birmingham
    Fri 11 Oct –Octagon, Sheffield
    Mon 14 Oct – Northumbria Institute, Newcastle
    Tue 15 Oct – Barrowlands, Glasgow
    Thu 17 Oct – Roundhouse, London 
    Fri 18 Oct – Brighton Dome

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