The Ironworks was hosting another event so the theatre at the Spectrum Centre was the venue for the evening. This is an interesting performance location with its boat like wooden roof. It looked a little small at first but it made for a very cosy concert with both sets of performers being in close contact with the audience.
Ashley Mackay on vocal and Ben Hesling on guitar from local group Ashley and the Cosmonauts opened proceedings. The performed a varied set consisting of a mixture of cover versions and songs written by themselves or their group colleagues. Their short set allowed them to show case the powerful vocal talents of Ashley and the accomplished guitar playing of Ben.
The South formed in 2008 consists of former members of the Beautiful South. Their music reflects their Hull roots – being in turn: direct, quirky, rugged, and soulful. This was the most northern appearance of their current tour – promoting their new release Sweet refrains. The group played a mixture of old (Rotterdam, Don’t marry her) and new material (Second coming, Windows).
From the start the audience were singing and clapping along to the older works. Alison Wheeler in particular was in fine voice – her rich tones complementing the more gravelly voice of Dave Hemmingway. The brass section were particularly effective moving from a nostalgic colliery band sound to that of a more jazzy feel. There were other elements in the sound also with some percussion reminiscent of Talking Heads and Sam Clayton of Little Feat.
The band played straight through until the end with no break and the concert ended with Perfect 10. However the audience wanted more and the band duly returned to play a further three songs ending with Good as gold.
This was one of these concerts which was something special – good music and songs, good atmosphere and audience participation.
Thanks are due to the Limelights team for sound and lights and to Ironworks and the Spectrum Centre for hosting us at the event.
