Tom Baxter / Charlie Winston Live at the Arts Theatre Soho | livemusic.fm

This was the second time I'd seen Tom Baxter, post his Sony label extrication, something that seems to have given him a re-newed sense of energy and purpose. The first time I'd seen Tom Baxter live, was at the end of September , when he played the Amadeus in Maida Vale. This had to be one of the strangest venues in London, what with it being a converted Welsh Presbyterian Chapel! West London trustafarian meccas aside, however, it had been an interesting evening with a horizon-broadening range of talented support - ranging from singer-songwriter Sam Semple, to offbeat new-age jazz experimentalists the Portico Quarter and London's very own sonic sorceror and urban poet, the Ventriloquist. I have to say though that, at the Amadeus Gig, I had been a bit disappointed that Tom hadn't played many of his Sony-era favourites (notably "This Boy" "My Declaration" and "Half a Man") and although it was great to hear some of the new material, particularly the latino-influenced numbers, I hadn't really had time to properly absorb the less familiar numbers. As ever though, Tom's passionate delivery of his well-crafted music, coupled with his unbelievably powerful voice, carried the gig from start to finish and left me with that slight post-gig depression I sometimes get when I have witnessed a true musical virtuoso give it their all. So, it was with some excitement that I had booked the London Arts Theatre tickets and hoped to get to grips with the new material - and of course secretly hoped that he would play a few more of the old favourites.

The Arts Theatre is about 2 minutes from where I work and is everything you'd expect from a theatre in Covent Garden - a decayed baroque seated venue with crushed-velvet flip-seats, boxes and balcony. Bit of a weird place for a folk-rock gig if you ask me - but then so is a converted Welsh Presbyterian church! 
The evening opened with the Ventriloquist - a great warm up man, totally at home on the stage of a Victorian theatre, and if there's one thing that both gigs have introduced me too, it is to the roguish modern-day poet-jester charm of Chris Redmond's alter-ego - a.k.a. the Ventriloquist.

The Ventriloquist was swiftly followed by Charlie Winston - who I hadn't heard of before. However, moments after he walked on stage I recognised him as former Tom Baxter band-member and younger brother of Tom himself. Just Charlie, a guitar, a piano and his hat! To be honest he blew me away and performed some beautifully crafted songs with verve, imagination and an awful lot of balls - don't forget there was about 200 people sitting down quietly in their crushed-velvet seats, who'd probably never heard of him before either! I'm always impressed when you have a lone musician playing guitar or piano and singing, as there's no room for error; and with such a quiet audience in a strange venue, every mistake or even faltering step would have been very evident. But that was the true class of the man, a voice as powerful and emotive as his older brother's, some excellent rhythmical acoustic guitar skills and some sublime melodies on the piano. My girlfriend was so impressed that in the break she popped out to the foyer and bought his CD. Memorable tracks would include "Boxes", with it's wave upon wave of piano melodies, and "Hobo" with it's inventive rhythmical and vocal sound fx additions.

After the break some more of the Ventriloquist - one of his finer moments with a truly humourous tale of James Brown and a building demolition - and then onto Tom Baxter himself. As at the Amadeus, Tom opened with the slow groove of "On a Night Like This" and from the outset his string section and backing band were fully to the fore, a factor that had been a bit sketchy at the start of the Amadeus gig. Once again Tom's passionate vocals and carefully crafted lyrical songs were music to our ears, and as well as the new numbers we were treated to an emotive rendition of "Half a Man". However, somewhere in the middle of the set I found myself thinking that the sound was almost TOO slick and that the Tom Baxter that I had discovered and grown to admire and love, had more in common with the nascent one-man band, whose torch was now being held by his younger brother. And I couldn't shake that thought for the rest of the gig - despite fine renditions of "Almost There" "Better, Too Far Gone" and the grand climactic finale of old favourite "Don't Let Go".

Tom is clearly very happy that he has left Sony, and that his new album will be totally self-funded with his artistic integrity thus unimpaired now the corporate powers are removed from the equation ... but I can't help feeling, for myself, that the new direction he has gone in, has left me feeling some of the raw emotion and passion has been replaced with slickly performed muso-centric numbers. That aside though, it was still a fine display of some really talented musicians and a singer-songwriter at the height of his powers - and without him I would never have been introduced to two really unique venues, and two unique performers in the shape of Charlie Winston and the Ventriloquist. Perhaps, like the oft-compared Jeff Buckley, he just needs to do his own thing and doesn't want to have his musical integrity compromised by anyone ... maybe his new direction will make more sense on the new album, or maybe, like the unimaginative Sony corporate Execs I just want to hear the next "This Boy" or "My Declaration". Or perhaps it's just my old busker soul that likes one-man and a guitar and a simple tune...