Mezzo Forte – Seth Lakeman.

Or – Seth “I’ve got freaking awesome guns” Lakeman.

Playing at The Brook in Southampton on the 15th April, it was finally my first experience of live Seth. I’ve been wanting to see him for ages, and I have no idea why it took me so bloody long as he always seems to be touring.

Everything about his music seems to be pretty awesome – he has is one of those rare musicians who can write brilliant songs that are immediately accessible, but also last. They can be listened to again and again, and don’t get boring. I’m not sure if any names of others who can do that actually come to mind… And he really is a musician – this word can be applied so very well to him. Being a violin player (and the violin seeming like such a frail instrument compared to, for example, the guitar), one can always feel slightly on edge when he’s playing as there is such opportunity to get a note wrong or fail completely, but not once did this happen. Indeed, the only minor ailment to his performance was his intensity in one song that started to fray his bow. Did Yehudi Menuhin even manage this? His playing technique is outstanding too – he looks classically trained in his stance and hold, although this seems slightly unorthodox for a folk singer. Throughout the set, he switched from violin to tenor guitar, and somehow managed to sing at the same time as playing the former. The logistics of this always confuse me but he did it brilliantly.

Better still, he appears to be having fun! There’s nothing worse than a moody frontman to bring the audience and backing band down. He interacted with his audience and band, frequently ‘jamming’ with individuals of the band (which includes his brother Sean), and there was a general sense of enjoyment from all there. Good choice of venue too: not too big to give it an empty feel, but cosy enough as it was full.

Starting with ‘The Hurlers’ and ending, before the encore, with just him and his violin playing ‘Kitty Jay’ (wonderful stuff!), Mr Lakeman played lots of new stuff and I am seriously considering buying the next album. A rarity, considering I am hardly ever able to buy albums 😀 It was an excellent live experience, with a combination of good playing, good songs, and a happy ensemble of people. Go see them live!

The only pity about him is that he feels to popular and too big a name for a folk artist. I always thought folk music was about using song to tell people about what was happening to the lambs and chickens, and how some bird threw herself off of a bridge because her true love has to marry someone else – traditional stuff, really, and Mr Lakeman does sing about such things, but shouldn’t folk be in the pub at the end of a long day in the fields, with a pint in one hand and a violin/guitar/hurdy-gurdy etc in the other?

Mezzo Forte – Jerry Dammers Spatial AKA Orchestra.

So. These guys are a bit weird aren’t they.

Performing at Bristol’s Colston Hall on a Wednesday evening in April (the 7th to be exact), this was my first proper experience of live jazz, and it was… Interesting. It ranged mainly from excellent to awful, although it wasn’t the playing that was bad. Just what they were playing. Jerry Dammers (of Specials fame), seems to be making quite a noise (literally on some occasions) with this musical project of his, in which he and his orchestra pay tribute to Sun Ra (who I hadn’t heard of until I was told we were going to see JD and Orchestra) and thus,  apparantly there must be some seriously odd elements to Mr Ra.

The Orchestra played a good deal of well-known stuff, including a Satie piece (originally written for the piano), the Batman Theme, something by Mike Oldfield, which was brilliant – it is an excellent orchestra and their playing ability, together and separately, is brilliant – but for some unknown reason, they (or Mr Dammers?) thought it would make it better if they interspersed it with animal noise (what the hell?! The female singer was good, but why ‘sing’ animal noises when you can actually sing?), and FREE JAZZ. Whoever invented this (this was investigated later but I forget the name) should really be shot. There is no musical merit in going into a ‘jazz trance’ (there were a lot of these that evening) and playing whatever you want. It sounds terrible,  it does not fit into the rest of the music, it’s just noise, and makes your ears bleed! Why listen to that when you can listen to the wonderful ensemble of all the brass counterparts playing together? The only solo that was actually good was the percussion dude – just him on the bongos and he had the audience captivated.

In all fairness, Mr Dammers did sort of seem like a spare part some of the time – he was neither a conductor nor a player of a musical instrument, he didn’t really lead the orchestra and didn’t seem like one of the unit most of the time. But apparently none of it would have happened if it wasn’t for him so I suppose he should be there.

One of the best parts was the set and costumes. So elaborate! And so juxtaposed to a sit-down event in a fancy hall that, generically, the performers should have been wearing suits for. A clear favourite for most was the electric bass player in full Pharoah regalia. With sunglasses. It sort of fused Egyptian headdress with African outfits, and for technical there was a sarcophagus, figures with ‘keytars’ and other instruments, projections onto various parts of the stage, and I believe some form of car contraption strung up above the key section. All very odd but the set and costumes were excellent.

I should remind you it was a musical event, not theatre. Although it is pleasant when it’s more of an all-round performance, and people have actually seemed to care about the rest of the ensemble, as well as the music. Good call.

It was an enjoyable evening, but one of the best parts was the orchestra exiting through the audience, then continuing to play in the foyer of Colston Hall (with the band that was performing in the foyer at the time!), and then taking their music outside to the street as well. Now that is a good bit of improvisation, improv-jazz is not.

For next time, no animal noise and no free jazz. Other than that, excellent playing and an excellent orchestra – marvellous performance!