First
up is Sam Brooks, he's a solo acoustic act, his
voice is a tad dry but not in a bad way, there's
a lot of dragged out bits in the way he sings,
it's all very clean cut. One thing I've always
found about acoustic acts is that they can be
hit and miss, and at times I want to break out
a lighter and hold it up. All his songs are rather
slow paced, simple chords, but he's pretty good,
not over doing it, but his guitar work could use
a bit of colour, He's getting a good reaction
from the crowd getting a cheer after every song.
Not bad at all.
Next
up are a 4 piece band called colour the atlas,
it’s all mid paced stuff, a female vocalist,
a guy in the bass, a guy on a single Tom drum,
and a guy on a acoustic guitar, the bass player
switches to keyboards at times. The sound is rather
colourful, full and rounded, while the singer
granted can sing it gets rather nasal and whiny
at times, and this gets annoying when she's conveying
emotion and hitting the high notes as it were,
it just gets on my nerves. The crowd are responding
well to it though, with loud cheers after every
song, which I might add that they go one a bit
too long at times that to me they out stay there
welcome, other than that not a bad set.
Newton
Faulkner, I'll be honest, I really only know a
handful of his songs, probably from his first
album at that. The man has 4 guitars and an array
of peddles at his disposal, I was expecting less
of a set up. He has a really easy to listen to
voice, he doesn't push it, but he has a few high
notes that he fades out slightly. His guitar work
is really rather superb, it's a nice full sound
that he adds a kick drum to fill it out a bit
more. One thing I was hoping for that he would
do a bit of talking to the crowd he did this a
fair bit regaling the crowd with some funny gig
anecdotes, the girl and the ukulele was rather
funny and as was the foot notes to People Should
Smile More. He opened his set with Pulling Teeth,
To The Light, People Should Smile More, it's not
an electric start obviously but its highly entertaining
and the chosen songs are really good songs to
kick his set off with along with his anecdotes,
it sets the pace nicely for the rest of the evening.
His
set has a few covers in it, Payphone by Maroon
5, Tear Drop by Massive Attack, that is one of
my all time favourites the original not the cover,
but it’s still a mighty fine effort, Superstition
by Stevie Wonder is also a very good cover.
His set also features good songs such as Write
It on Your Skin, Full Fat, Dream Catch Me and
I Need Something, both of which I've heard far
too many times that I'm rather sick of the album
versions but played live, they are so much better
and they get the crowd singing also. Brick by
Brick, Sugar in the Snow, Long Shot, Clouds and
I took it Out on You also feature.
He closes out his set with gone in the morning
and pick up your broken heart, a fine end to a
very entertaining evening, more than I was expecting,
the guy should do stand up.
Sam Brooks 3.5/5
Colour The Atlas 3.5/5
Newton Faulkner 4.5/5
Review By Robert Lawrence
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