The task of writing a review for an artist, or many, that you are almost certainly going to see in the not to distant future can be a somewhat daunting one. Luckily very few negative words can be shed about tonight’s show taking all the guilt of having to write them away.
Tonight is Beerjacket’s birthday show and the man is clearly proud to be finally headlining the legendary King Tuts after around 45 support slots here spanning several years. Kicking off the nights feast of local talent are avant folk five-piece Seventeenth Century displaying a sort of distinctive awkwardness as they cringe through a set of emphatic room filling tracks.
Talking of room filling, next on the bill The Second Hand Marching Band could make a venue slightly smaller than Tuts appear full just with their own presence. Their sound does not let down either, matching their numbers (eighteen strong tonight, we think), as they produce an enthralling performance despite being crammed onto the Tuts stage. The bands live sets are slightly on the side of shambolic compared to other large musical collectives, but this only adds to the attraction of this radiant live experience.
As headliner Beerjacket takes the stage he maintains his usual vaguely nervous stage presence as he perches himself on his chair, however tonight he gleams with genuine disbelief. The singer-songwriter openly thanking the, much larger than he expected, crowd for coming on several occasions, clearly chuffed at the turn out as he finally gets his overdue headline slot.
Beerjacket has very recently found some sort of minor fame over the water featuring in recent issues of Rolling Stone, allegedly he just wishes it the spotlight would go away. He actively jokes about this following a minor hiccup in the intro to his cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark’, (the track Rolling Stone had originally drawn attention to) embarrassedly stopping to claim that if he wasn’t going to write his ‘hit’ he may as well get it right. However at the second attempt the song is executed with the charm Beerjacket brings to his entire growing back catalogue of songs.
Tonight’s performance is not far off what you would get with most Beerjacket shows, the man seems remarkably consistent as he again delivers a delightful set which leaves the crowd as pleased as the man himself is with the evenings events.
Sunday 9 August 2009
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