A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 3 (PART 2) : JC FLIES SOLO

Review of Butcher Boy/Darren Hayman : Cecil Sharp House, London : Saturday 21 January

(The subplot......24 hours after Easterhouse, JC was down in Camden, London to watch his beloved Butcher Boy - could it be better than the gig he himself promoted in Glasgow back in November??)

The venue was the majestic and quaint Cecil Sharp House, home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. It’s a building that dates back to 1930, and other than some modern adaptations to allow it to conform with access legislation, it has been authentically and lovingly maintained to the glory of its opening day. It’s an atypical venue for Butcher Boy and a real surprise to find such a building amidst the hustle and bustle of Camden

Support came from Darren Hayman, someone I’d last seen ages ago as lead singer of Hefner on a tour when they supported Billy Bragg. I recalled enjoying the support on that occasion, but not enough to go out and buy any merchandise. The bloke who took to his seat behind the piano to the side of the stage was not the face I recalled from Hefner....but then again, do many of us look the same way we did some 14 years ago?

Dressed in a coat, scarf and cap, he did confess early on during his often amusing between-songs patter that he looked like a Dickensian character. Like a geeky Oliver Twist. This was a show I was really looking forward to.

Sadly, it was very soon a show I was really looking forward to the end of.

The songs were all a bit too monotonous. They were also, for the most part, depressing. Darren’s delivery was akin to an off-pitch Neil Young circa 1970. There was loads of polite applause between the songs and most folk stayed in their seats to watch the 45-minute set. But it was so deadly quiet that moving your chair and walking across the wooden floor to the exits would have seemed very rude. If there had been reserved seating, and if the room had been carpeted, I think a few would have headed for the sanctuary of the bar. There were a few folk who loved it all. Perhaps my mood wasn’t helped by being so tired from being out the night before and travelling down earlier in the day, but Darren’s set threatened to send me to sleep. His saving grace was the occasional story between the songs.

And so to Butcher Boy. This was their most important gig since the December 2009 support slot to Belle & Sebastian with many of the audience being debutants given it’s been a long while since the band played the capital. The band did not let anyone down. They were exceptional and played a sublime main set:-

When I’m Asleep
The Day Our Voices Broke
Girls Make Me Sick
I Am the Butcher
This Kiss Will Marry us
Carve A Pattern
Helping Hands
Russian Dolls
Anything Other Than Kind
I Know Who You Could Be
Sunday Bells
Imperial
I Could Be In Love With Anyone
There Is No-one Who Can Tell You Where You’ve Been

The first seven songs were the same running order as at the Langside Halls gig in Glasgow a couple of months back, but thanks to the venue having a full-sized piano next to the stage – fully utilised by Alison – quite a bit of the set took on a whole new sound. The rendition of This Kiss Will Marry Us was a real tear-jerker, while Helping Hands was another which benefited from the piano rather than electric keys.

John was in fine voice – he was even spotted dancing a bit during Girls Make Me Sick. Mia and Cat were flawless. Basil was on fire. Fraser was his usual reliable and talented self no matter which instrument he picked up, and not for the first time, Robert and Finlay on bass and drums drove the set along at the perfect pace, quite clearly having the time of their lives.

It was magical.

My ears pricked up when midway through the set when they launched into Russian Dolls. One of the lesser-heralded songs on the new LP, this was the first time the band have ever played it live. And they did a great job of it.

After that it was back to the tried and trusted set played at Glasgow until they came back for the deserved encore.

I’ve since learned that they had four songs up their sleeves for the encore – they passed on Parliament Hill, which again would have been the first time they had ever played it live, and they also passed on the traditional set-closer of the upbeat and highly danceable Profit In Your Poetry. Instead, perhaps with a nod to the sort of music the venue is famed for, they slowed things right down with the rarely-played slow version of Keep Your Powder Dry as released on their debut EP back in 2005 (when half of the band had yet to become members) as well as the tear-jerking Days Like These Will Be The Death Of Me.

It was a truly special ending to a night when London belonged to Butcher Boy and they again gave a live performance that it was a privilege to see.

There were a few folk filming the gig on phones and cameras. I've tracked down a few clips already out there on the internet. To the various folk who have put them on you tube....thank you. And I hope you don't mind me lifting them and putting them here.































AS I MENTIONED, EARLIER.....A HUGE THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO MADE THIS FOOTAGE AND POSTED IT ON YOU TUBE. I HOPE YOU DON'T MIND THAT IT APPEARS HERE...
Next up for the band is again something a bit different.

On Friday 10 February, they will be performing an instrumental set as part of the Glasgow Short Film Festival. Those of us lucky enough to have been present at their one-off performance at the Glasgow Film Theatre back in 2009 when they played a specially composed live soundtrack to a silent movie shot in the 1950s in the West of Scotland will have an idea of what to expect.

But before then, other gigs beckon. Tune in next week for the next instalment.


JC : Friday 27 January 2012