GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX
Who
There were just three or so people outside with 25 minutes until the doors were scheduled to open at 7:30pm. We'd received an email informing us that the show was to start at 8pm sharp and with no support band and were keen to grab a front row seat to make the most of the night. I'm surprised to learn that the Glee Club was celebrating its 20th anniversary, as I'd only been aware of the place for seven years or so. My first show there in fact had been Gruff with Neon Neon in 2008, then Jonny (Euros Childs and Norman Blake) closely followed by Gruff solo in 2011. As my brother had seen Cerys Matthews there it seemed that the place had unexpectedly became the Welsh quarter of Birmingham as well as the place to see comedians! The whole Arcadian site is one that I very much approve of - it being quieter and therefore more pleasant than Brindley Place - and it felt very comfortable to while away the time waiting outside as the queue built up. We were let inside a few minutes later than scheduled, and unusually we'd been presented with proper Glee Club tickets rather than just having to give our names on arrival. We had no problems bagging two of the seats slightly to the right of Gruff, and at this point the only complaint I could make was that the seats were so damned tight. It was very uncomfortable and I don't remember it being this bad, but my notes from a previous review at the Glee Club indicates that in fact it had been. Oh well! The venue filled up and seemed to have sold out or thereabouts, but we didn't shift from our seats again all night. A roadie appeared to start up a record on the turntable, which was playing some fairly nondescript sounds, and he appeared again every so often to turn the vinyl around. He also tuned up and tested the instruments a bit, which should be unnecessary as when there's no support shouldn't it all be sorted ahead of time?
There was a Glee banner at the back of the stage and I correctly surmised that the video screen would descend from the roll-up thing above it. The 8pm start time had been a lie as an announcement said that he'd be onstage around 8:30pm, and also that there'd be a good opportunity to take a cigarette break after the show. Very funny! I was also impressed as we were specifically told that it was ok for us to take individual photos but that we couldn't film. I do hope that Gruff has proved himself as the first ever artist considerate enough to demand that a fussy venue allow photography for the benefit of his fan base? The thought of an artist sticking up for the wishes of the fans is very pleasant! Also it was good as I was quite miffed as the back of the tickets stated that we weren't allowed to take photos but that the venue reserved the right to take images of us and publish them? Clearly that's morally wrong as artists choose to be in the public eye (so should expect photos) whereas we are simply people who want a quiet night out. Maybe I undermine that point a bit by publishing reviews for shows, but oh well... The left of the stage was gapingly empty - I wondered if it would be for special guests? - and we admired Gruff's onstage equipment, noting in particular the harmonica and other things that we just couldn't name! The American Interior logo backed by mountain imagery appeared onscreen after a bit as the lights dimmed, before Gruff appeared wearing a wolf hat and suit and holding up a placard simply stating "American Interior". It turned out though that it was just a quick visit for him to introduce an educational film that he'd like us to watch. I'd been fully prepared for a PowerPoint presentation so was happy to embrace what could otherwise have been an unexpected turn.
We all seemed braced for some laughs from the video, but it was an old and very straight-laced documentary about Prince Madoc, the Welsh prince who'd supposedly discovered American in 1170. It was all rather informative and set the tone for the evening quite well, but oh so serious! Gruff then reappeared to perform Year Of The Dog, remaining seated with his guitar throughout the set. It was a pleasant contrast to the last time I'd seen him, where he'd been doing the solo hits with a full band, and his charisma and talent was more than sufficient to maintain everyone's full attention. A photographer leaped in front of us and bent down to take some pictures with an amazingly elaborate/expensive camera, and amusingly Gruff stopped the song a couple of times to say hello to him! It was unusual - as there was no photo pit so I don't know if he'd had special permission or not - but it served a purpose as those photos were uploaded as part of a decent review that I read online a few days later from Brum Live. I took a good few shots myself with my new camera - which I'd purchased to pre-empt the likelihood of my existing camera breaking when I'm on holiday - one of those shots you can see above, and I probably did better than the guy who spent a good bit of time taking rear shots from the far side of the stage. OK, it may make for one or two interesting photos, but it's hardly the best vantage point? Gruff removed his wolf hat and took out a placard featuring the image of John Evan's felt avatar, which had been made courtesy of a fabulous Pete Fowler design. Gruff was in a very educational mood, using his iPad to give us a rare concept gig based on the life and times of John Evans. I could tell it was an iPad as later in the show the battery life was clearly visible in the corner of the projection, and in fact it got down to 47% by the end of the night!
Gruff started logically enough with the story of the birth of John Evan's, displaying an image of his birthplace, which was quite nice actually, before his mother died and he had to move somewhere worse. Somewhere so bad in fact that Gruff stated they only had dial-up internet. Poor guy! He played The Court Of King Arthur early on, strapping his harmonica around his neck, but I struggle to remember the connection with the chronology of John's life. It was great though, and showed that Gruff was more than capable of doing everything by himself. I'd wondered if the John Evans puppet had been nicked or something so it was nice when he was wheeled out and placed on a chair, as Gruff got some of his signs out, first "applause", then "louder", and finally "apeshit!". We did our best to oblige, but either something irked Gruff or he showed comical disdain by casually throwing John Evans and his chair backstage again. Very strange, I'd hoped he would remain with us for the rest of the night to fill the large space onstage? American Interior was played early, followed by Iolo, where Gruff advised us that if we weren't familiar with his name that we would be by the end of the song! It was accompanied by an image of a guy with shocking blonde hair and was as repetitive as Gruff had warned us it would be, but in a nice way. Shark Ridden Waters featured the record player for the introduction and symbolised John's journey across the sea to America, which he left London for to seek out a fabled tribe of Welsh-speaking Indians in the American interior. Gruff was amusingly apologetic for how clumsily he shoehorned the song titles into the story to lead into each song, and a great image onscreen of John Evans standing on a hill overlooking an American city obviously was a clever way to lead into Walk Into The Wilderness, an enjoyable power ballad.
Liberty (Is Where We'll Be) used the words of John Evan's letters, hence some of the lines didn't scan particularly well, but the song worked nicely and I was enjoying the show very much. At this point I lose track of the chronology a bit, but a brilliant image of John's avatar lying down on a bench symbolised him becoming ill, and even better was the crazy shots of him being "arrested" by a modern day American policeman! Gruff used the zoom function on his iPad and got some sirens blazing for a good couple of minutes to ram home what a serious moment of peril it was. It was hilarious! John came to the attention of a Spaniard on an expedition upriver and was eventually freed after a miserable time in prison, and his positive relationship with the Spanish captain - in fact he became the second in command - was symbolised by the music of If We Were Words (We Would Rhyme), which featured a metronome to cleverly substitute for the lack of drums. John built some positive relationships with Indians on his journey, but infuriatingly couldn't find anyone who spoke Welsh, which led us nicely into Lost Tribes, which arguably was the highlight of the evening. Gruff used an indescribable array of instruments to back himself up and turned what I feel is a dull moment on the record into a technical tour-de-force. It may have been at this point that Gruff shook his head in disappointment after replaying his pre-recorded drum section, stating that he should have done a better job. He said that life didn't always turn out the way you wanted it, both reflecting on John's unusual experiences and how he'd originally intended to be a rock drummer, but that things hadn't worked out quite as planned for either of them. I'm sure I've heard a story once that SFA were originally five guys who wanted to be drummers, but that four of them had to adapt accordingly to allow for a more realistic band set-up!
John's journey upriver continued as Gruff showed an amazing photo of the puppet seemingly in the water next to a crocodile, and stated that he ended up naked and suffering from malaria but still trekked onwards, before eventually returning to New Orleans, with his ultimate achievement probably being to map places that no-one had charted before - including some non-existent volcanoes to mystify those who followed in his footsteps - and by storming a fort he helped to define the boundary between the USA and Canada. Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru symbolised his journey home and was delivered utterly fabulously with plenty of energy, and I was shocked to learn that John's story ended in New Orleans, as he passed away at the age of just 29. Gruff showed us images from Easy Rider, imagining Dennis Hopper at the funeral and the occasion having a flower power vibe because the suspected graveyard where Evans lies was used in that film. The main set then finished very nicely with 100 Unread Messages, which is a great summary of the Evans story and was movingly accompanied by an image of the felt avatar and the years he'd lived - 1770 to 1799 in fact. This is the photo you see above, and I'm still not quite sure if Gruff was joking when he said that John had adopted the name Juan when he was with the Spaniards? Gruff left the stage and uncharacteristically was engaging in a token encore, but the pressure was off as I'd already seen him do the solo hits last time and I had no expectation that any SFA tunes would be played. He came back on, also with John, saying that he'd just been testing the waters to see how enthusiastic we all were, and knocked back the suggestion of performing Skylon! on the basis that it's a bit too much for a Monday night. He continued with Just War, which I didn't know was a song he'd based upon a melody he'd been given by the late Mark Linkous from Sparklehorse. Gruff may have been oblivious to the similarity of the tune to Devil In Your Shoes by Shed Seven, but I certainly noted a strong resemblance. I'd heard the song a few times - as from somewhere I'd acquired a Gruff version - and it was a pleasing rarity.
Things then perked up with an energetic take on Sensations In The Dark, the one my brother had been hoping for, before the show climaxed with a rendition of Honey All Over, where Gruff brilliantly recorded his vocals live so that he could play them back and harmonise with himself. He left the stage to much applause, as his final placard proclaiming that it was the end rudely fell off the chair he'd placed it so carefully upon. Sensing that he wouldn't return we left but had a frustrating delay getting out of the venue down the narrow staircase, and I wondered what chance of survival we'd have if a fire broke out at a music venue, as getting outside is always painfully slow. Fortunately though we were extremely close to New Street, and had no problems getting the penultimate train back, which was a bonus but I was still very tired the next day. I didn't have any real opportunity to make many notes until the following weekend when I wrote up the review, but I do recall my brother complaining that a random person had managed to spill beer onto his coat. I'd had no particular expectations from Gruff and was happy to go along with whatever songs he wanted to give us, and was pleased to enjoy a performance that was very different to the one before. Surprisingly The Swamp hadn't been played, which is tragic as it is a highlight from the album, and also he hadn't played The Whether (Or Not), which is one of the four songs I initially heard from the album, which appeared on a St Louis radio session way back in 2012. Also I would have enjoyed Whale Trail, In A House With No Mirrors (You'll Never Get Old) and Candylion, and I note that nothing by SFA or from his debut album was played. Skylon! I would have yearned for, but if he'd had played that we'd had had to have got the later train! A stonking 17 years after I first saw Gruff playing with SFA at the Wulfrun, his ability to amuse and to amaze remains as potent as it ever has.
Mark: 8.0/10
Gruff Rhys
Where
Birmingham Glee Club
When
15th September 2014
Price
£16.50
Who with
Alex
Position
Seated, at the front
Comments
Unusually I made it two seated gigs in a row, and in fact three out of four shows so far this year were seated, with the exception being a sharp contrast for the carnage of The Libertines in July. Unbelievably the chance to see the legendary Gruff Rhys came at a price £7 cheaper than the ELO tribute band, and as my brother was willing to go with me I obviously wasn't going to miss out. I heard through his albums a good few times to prepare but my mind was much more focused on my amazing trip to China which was to follow two weeks later, so much so that I was delighted with the thought of visiting a Chinese restaurant in Birmingham Chinatown beforehand. The pressure was taken off as I'd booked the day off work to plan my holiday before we headed into town, and we didn't take any chances with the timings by going for a buffet option. I had two enormous plates of mains followed by two helpings of desserts and ice cream and enjoyed it all very much, as the restaurant seemed to have figured out that starters and desserts are the best parts of a buffet, and pretty much avoided genuine "mains" options altogether. I don't know though, there was some "live cooking" going on at the back, but I feel that helping yourself without having to interact with staff is the whole point of a buffet? They abandoned us completely after serving our first round of drinks so I took my revenge by utilising the ice cream as a substitute. If they don't want my cash, I'm happy to keep hold of it! My brother kindly paid as I'd purchased the tickets in the first place, and then we moved on to the venue.
Setlist
Year Of The Dog
The Court Of King Arthur
American Interior
Iolo
Shark Ridden Waters
Walk Into The Wilderness
Liberty (Is Where We'll Be)
If We Were Words (We Would Rhyme)
Lost Tribes
The Last Conquistador
Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru
100 Unread Messages
Just War
Sensations In The Dark
Honey All Over
