Borderline Pre-Xmas Winter Warmer | livemusic.fm

So ... Tom Mckean had invited me along to their Xmas bash, and based on the two previous gigs, I knew we were going to be in for a treat. This time I'd managed to convince a few other punters to come along and, neatly coinciding with the last real working day before Xmas and the New Year, there was a real party atmosphere to Central London. In the early support slot we were presented by a kind of Damien Rice-accompanied-by-a-fiddle-player acoustic set which was interesting ... but maybe not quite the party vibe we'd all been hoping for. Mister McKean and his Emperical allies however soon took to the stage and the crowd swelled to hear Tom's mellifluous vocals and the individual sound of the band. Interestingly Tom was breaking in a few new numbers - which he joked we wouldn't know if he got them wrong - and they seamlessly segued into the usually slick set. "Little Something" and "This Will be The Year" were both executed with aplomb and the crowd had now warmed up into a full raucous festive spirit. Bobby Williams did a fine job on backing vocals and guitar, Andy Simms did his usual high jinx on clarinet as well as keyboards - while Ian Ross and Ed Miller kept the whole rhythm section as tight as Scrooge's purse-strings. However, all too soon Tom announced their last number - the crowd-pleasing Old Fashioned Morphine - which again got rousing cheers and applause and then that was it. Tom and his Emperors were off. No encore and very little banter with the crowd. I sensed that there was some pressure on timings that night as the headliner - William D Drake - had a herd of harmoniums (if that's the right collective noun) to load up onto the stage. This was a shame as it seemed to bring Tom's performance to an early close and there was a rushed feel to most of the set - one of Tom's gift's, as well as his crooning vocals, is his warmth and his laconic humour, which tonight was not as evident as it had been before - mainly I imagine as the band had been given a very definite time-slot with little room for manoeuvre. Still it was a good warm up to both the headline band and the festive period as a whole - the Emperor's go down like a fine brandy, warming the heart and tingling the toes. But in this case it was all a bit fleeting and I could have done with a bit more time to savour the warmth of the fine liquor, before I headed back out to brave the cold north winds blowing down from Camden. http://www.myspace.com/tommckeanandtheemperors