Made in Sheffield - Made to Last | livemusic.fm

So here I am again ... going to a gig in another very 'non-giglike' venue, going to see an artist that I'd be surprised even my parents generation would be interested in seeing these days. As usual I'd kind of convinced myself (and the missus) to go an see the support band - Tom McKean and the Emperors - and see what they would sound like given a decent sized venue and a crystal-sharp PA. Tony Christie was frankly a bonus - and all the more so since one of the missus' mates is a local Sheffield lass and misty-eyed nostalgic about the days of the 'working mans' club ... not that she probably went to them, but that's good old nostalgia for you, the rosy tinted specs are even rosier if you were never there in the first place. The venue quite frankly is pretty darn impressive - from the looped widescreen visuals in the champagne bar, through to the oak benched galleries and high-vaulted ceilings. It's no wonder that this place is home to the Royal London Philarmonic Orchestra and it honestly wouldn't look out of place as the Hogwarts School Recital Hall. - And ye gods it was clean! However I did have a few reservations - these hallowed acoustic vaulted venues never seem to cope very well with amplification - I remember going to see Paul Weller at the Royal Albert Hall, abley supported by OCS guitarist Steve Cradock, and to be honest the sound was what can only be described as 'mushy'. I guess the reason is something to do with the hall's being designed to amplify the non-amplified instruments and in the end the acoustics sort of get confused. So as we took our cinema-like plush velvet seats in the stalls for Tom McKean I was a bit worried - not least because I don't really like sitting down for gigs! In all honesty I was mistaken about the acoustics of Cadogan - it was stunningly sharp. If anything it was almost 'too sharp' for TMK and I suspect they hadn't had a full sound-check or got to grips with the very stripped-back sound that the hall produced. Opening with their now signature accapella opening chorus from Old Fashioned Morphine they launched into the powerful A Little Something and the half-full hall warmly received their efforts. One thing that was pleasantly apparent was that McKean's acoustic guitar, which often gets lost in the mix of a smaller gig, was very much to the fore and served to illustrate the pleasing harmony of the songwriting and some of the subtleties of the TMK sound. McKean's voice was also allowed to explore it's range from warm, mellow growl to powerful emotive wail ... in fact you usually feel McKean gets a little riled by ambient noise between songs (or even during the numbers) at the rowdier venues, and some of the finesse of the songs is lost. Well, as they say, be careful what you wish for ... the sound was clear as a bell and the three hundred or so punters (since we were all seated) were pretty quiet between songs. It did mean that the songs sounded in some places a little 'bare' but generally numbers such as Hold Onto me and their newly released single This is the Year gained a new dimensions for the listener. Indeed songs such as'Til The Day That I Die with the plaintive, almost pleading emotional vocals were the best I'd heard - and the song is not usually a fave of mine. This Old Heart of Mine gave way to the book-end Old Fashioned Morphine - the Jolie Holland penned classic that customarily serves as both acapella opener and crowd-pleasing finale for the Emperors. The crowd had been convincingly won over by the end of the set - McKean's rich throaty vocals, the deft lyrics and the able backing of Ed Miller, Ian Ross and Bobby Williams, along with the certain je ne sais quoi that the idiosyncratic jazz clarinet of Andy Simms adds, had all worked their magic in the Cadogan Hall. Legendary sixties crooner Tony Christie was promoting the recent Made In Sheffield album - a sort of musical palimpsest of the indelible signatures that Sheffield musicians have left on the British music scene over the last 30 years. Joining forces with one of Sheffield's in vogue musicians, Richard Hawley, Christie has managed to craft something which at once both acknowledges the roots of the original song-writers, while adding a "gentlemanly" dimension of his own. Produced by Richard Hawley (and bass player Colin Elloitt) the tracks have all been written by Sheffield artists including Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner, Jarvis Cocker, Phil Oakey and of course Christie himself, as well as a lesser known song-writing heavyweight Martin Bragger (who had previously collaborated with Hawley on Coles Corner) The Cadogan Hall gig was the first complete live showcase of Made In Sheffield and although a little faltering at times (Christie still had to read the lyrics to some songs on a musician's stand) the overall was a warm and emotive performance. Following How Can I Entertain You with a stunning rendition of Born To Cry - a lesser known Hawley and Cocker collaboration from the Pulp years - Christie created a presence and bonhomie on stage that was mesmeric and engaging. The Alex Turner penned The Only Ones Who Know was perhaps less successful, but emotive classic Human League track Louise was quite frankly tear-jerkingly good. In a plaintive, emotionally driven, stripped down version of the hit song, Christie himself looked genuinely moved and one could almost see his band of Sheffield's own musicians (including both co-producer Colin Elliot on Bass and singer/songwriter Mark Sheridan on Guitar) becoming misty eyed by the song's climax. Ironic that this song was almost not included on the album and it took the considerable efforts of Colin Elliot to convince Christie to lay down the vocal track. The Martin Bragger crafted Danger Is A Woman In Love and Paradise Square are equally emotive but for me the stand out song of the performance was the climactic rendition of Hawley and Bragger's Coles Corner ... In a way this song had been the cornerstone of Christie's renaissance, and it was fitting that it should also be the cornerstone of this performance. Christie's own anecdotal references (which he delivered with gentle warmth between pretty much each number) gave the audience an insight into how synchronicity and chance had had a significant part to play in the collaboration: "On the drive back home after a recording session I heard Coles Corner on the radio. I said to my son, 'That's the sort of production i should be getting,' to which he replied, 'Richard sent you that song four years ago'." Thankfully Christie's pride didn't get in the way of him 'phoning up Hawley there and then and collaborating on these beautifully crafted songs and producing an "unexpected delight and genuinely great record" (NME) For some in the audience (probably the older generation) there was perhaps not enough reference to his back catalogue. One obvious omission was the song popularized by Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights - and for some not hearing Amarillo at a Christie gig might come as a shock. Only his 1971 hit I Did What I Did For Maria had a few 'older ladies' screaming in the aisles like they no doubt did when they were teenagers! But I for one was glad that the evening had dwelt on a breadth of song-writing and well-crafted songs from England's beating heart - rather than an opus of pot-boiler pop songs from years gone by. ( TMK Photo Courtesy of Ben Broomfield )