overlap

One thing you're at the mercy of at a seated gig are the vagaries of who you end up sitting next to, or between. It's a factor that makes a bigger difference to me than it does to many people, particularly in certain circumstances, and one thing that leavens the question somewhat is knowing who your fellow audience may be. In any case I traded the delights of taking my new handbag out for a quick chat with the turn, but it was mildly pleasing to find my judgement turned out spot on. And for future reference, well that's worth knowing. Getting inside the venue and heading up the stairs to hear 'ladies and gentlemen, tonight's performance will start in two minutes, please take your seats' is a slightly more elegant way for the show to start then a roadie shining a torch towards the sound desk and flashing it. And promptly at 7.30, Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls walked onto the stage to play for what I suspect is a bunch of folk predominantly unfamiliar with them. I gather I'm not the first to observe how grown-up and professional someone is when not swearing once over the forty minute set, and for just an acoustic guitar and a fiddle and mostly one voice, the sounds was flawless. Sat in the front row of a balcony section, I had a great view, and the mix of songs from Catching More Than We Miss and more familiar songs drawn from both Miles' solo work and The Wonder Stuff was pretty much spot on. Erica singing on Plans In The Sky was a particular highlight, and one of the things it brought to mind was whether she might end up also providing the Kirsty MacColl backing vocals on Welcome To The Cheap Seats at some point. Funny that Miles then told a story about his first encountering the sainted Kirsty, and they played Welcome To The Cheap Seats. The final song of the set was, less predictably than you might think, Size Of A Cow. Less predictable because this is the first time I've seen it done in a duo format with Erica's fiddle dualling the keyboard lines and guitar stabs, which is both a refreshing re-invention and set-closing cue for most of the crowd's familiarity reflexes to be touched. Ace! After a quick chat with Miles & Erica, and another venue PA warning to return to one's seats, The Proclaimers took the stage in front of a fairly partisan audience. I'm sure Cap In Hand has a certain resonance when it's played in a country that isn't England, and for me those subtler moments are the finer part of the set. I'm not sure whether the rhythm section were turned up to eleven on purpose, but at times it sounded more like the driving, muscular approach of The Who or Dr Feelgood than the sort of finesse or delicacy I'd rather hear. I'm On My Way could be a rogue Status Quo song that escaped and grew up north of the border, Erica returns to the stage for Sunshine On Leith, and from my vantage point I'm watching the crowd as much as the stage. I mentioned before the familiarity reflexes, and it's true that I'm taking a slightly less partial view than I normally would just because I didn't come for the headliners really. It's more than diverting to watch the security staff trying to get certain people to sit down, and confiscating a bottle that was being passed around, but it's equally observable how 500 Miles in particular has everyone out of their seats clapping slightly out of time and for the most part immediately sitting down again once the one song they really know is over. Interesting! After a brief excursion to play the return for the encore game, and a bit more help from Erica, the lights go up and it's all over bang on ten pm. This is both fitting for a proper theatre venue, and curiously un-rock n roll, but a gig where I could have been home well before half past ten had I not made a slight detour to run an errand on the way is a rare thing indeed! Miles & Erica setlist DWI\Fill Her Up and Foot Down\Corny But True\Circlesquare\The Cake\Stay Scared Stay Tuned\Amongst The Old Reliables\Plans In The Sky\Welcome To The Cheap Seats\Size Of A Cow

Labels: Erica Nockalls, gigs, Miles Hunt, The Proclaimers