There’s a good reason why we have yet to select our Best Gigs of 2009, and at this rate they will probably appear in 2010. Let me explain… 2009 has been a stunning year for album releases and live shows, but when December arrives, musically it’s usually all over for the year, bar some late stragglers. But not in 2009, oh no. Still coming this December are The Answer, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Regina Spektor, The Tragically Hip and a few more that I can’t remember right now. And of course there was this show last weekend, and what a show!
I was an early fan of the Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo Y Gabriela, but it’s been a while since I saw them perform. In fact it was three years ago in Manchester, when I also had an interesting chat with Gabriela, one of the most enthusiastic musicians I’ve ever met. A few months back I received the new album from Irish singer/songwriter Wallis Bird, and enthused over it. Over the period I have played just about every track from the album (NEW BOOTS) on the Shakenstir radio shows, in addition to RYG’s new album 11:11. It just so happens that both albums are in my list of Best Albums 2009, both acts are on the same label (Rubyworks), and both are playing this gig at the Manchester Apollo. RYG can fill a 1,000 venue, no problem. But a 2,500 venue on a cold and wet Manchester Autumn night? I wasn’t sure.
Well, what doubts I had quickly disappeared when I arrived at the venue. The car parks were jammed, a healthy-looking queue wound round the Apollo, and the ticket touts were desperate to buy. While the show wasn’t a sell-out before the event, on the night I’ve never seen so many people buying, resulting in a lock-out by showtime. I watched the punters walk in and a more varied age range I have never seen. As I waited by the photo pit I spied two very young children with their parents, and ages right through the range. It was great to see so many people come to see acts that are not exactly ‘mainstream radio-fodder.’
A tiny Wallis Bird flew past me and security, and into the bowels of the backstage area to ready herself for a pretty challenging experience. Imagine you’re an unknown artist with a massive audience in front of you who don’t know you from Adam… And you’re performing solo, without your band. It would scare me shitless. The lights dimmed and this small figure suddenly appeared with a single shaft of light beaming down on her, and she was understandably nervous.
Bird has been performing virtually all her life - you can tell - but this event was something else. this was the next-to-last show on a tour that has taken right through Europe with RYG, and each night she must have wondered, ‘will they like me’, ‘will they understand me’, ‘will I fuck it up?’ Considering the size of task and as yet unanswered questions, she set about her audience with a passion. After the first song (which was totally new to me) the audience showed modest appreciation. Then she really broke the ice by dashing to the back of the stage to grab a hand-written A4 with WALLACE BIRD writ large and proud, and which she held in a visibly shaking hand. That was it! From then on the audience warmed to her in a way that I have never seen before for an ‘unknown’act, although Damien Rice came close.
I can only describe her performance as stunning; the easy way she taked and connected with her large audience, the brilliance of her song writing, and a performance that came from the heart and soul. I recognised only two songs which came from her new album. The first was ‘a love song’ called ‘When We Kissed, The World Fell In Love’, the second was her final explosive song, ‘To My Bones.’ All six or seven songs were wonderful and sung with power and exhilerating passion. At one point she broke a guitar string, then proceeed to demolish the remainder and was given another guitar. Bird reminded me, in more ways than one, of the great Ani DiFranco, especially in the style of her playing. I have many photos of Ani and Bird even cocks her leg as she plays in exactly the same way…
A couple of interesting things happened during and after the performance. First, the auditorium was two-thirds full which was expected for the support act. But midway through the set the place began to fill as no doubt word and her voice got out. Second, I went to the merch stand after Bird had finished and watched as many people left the auditorium and seated balcony levels to buy her album. I lost count of how many changed hands but I also noticed that RYG fans were buying both albums. Now what if she had pronounced from the stage that she would be at the merch stand during the break to sign albums (and talk to the press), I wonder how many more albums would have been sold. Then multiply this by the number of shows on the tour…. Bird could have sold out of albums netting something in the order of £30,000 plus. And all possible because she gave her all in one of the finest performances I have ever seen from a singer/songwriter, and had converted many strangers to friends. As I stood in the photo pit waiting for RYG to appear I noticed what seemed like a series of short mic stands at the front of the stage which puzzled me. I also noticed that there was no secondary platform to lift the pair up higher, topped with a couple of stools. I have seen them on three previous occasions and each time this was the standard set-up. Minutes before the set started a huge video was played showing people waiting to see the duo play. They were questioned about RYG and came back with a diversity of answers like ‘haven’t seen or heard them before’ to ‘they’re great.’ Then a huge 11:11 logo appeared on the video screen and a few more minutes later the pair arrived on stage to thunderous applause and immediately set about playing one of the greatest shows I have ever had the pleasure to witness.
Gone were the stools and rather static display, in its place was a dynamic show where both players stood at each side of the large stage, frequently meeting in the middle to fire away at each other. There was also an intro guitar opening before ‘San Domingo’ (from 11:11) with a wonderful spell of Gabriela’s guitar body drumming which resounded around the place, and ‘Juan Loco’ (from Live In Japan). The video screen began to show images of the pair playing but I could not see any cameras, nor could I see one on the end of Rodrigo’s guitar when a shot appeared to be taken aiming down its barrel…
Rodrigo then introduced the show before the pair piled into ‘Hanuman’,
the opening track from 11:11, with Gabriela superb on rhythm in the middle
of the stage and Rodrigo homing into her like a bullfighter with his
fighting lead guitar. After the ‘battle’ they both sat on
cases to perform the gentle, meandering, Mediterranean tones of ‘Logos’ (from
11:11). By this time I had vacated the photo pit and wandered to the
side of the auditorium to watch the duo and the audience. This was not
your ‘usual’ rock audience, rather it was a large bunch of
well-healed students and adults, responding as if in a full-on rock concert.
I then went up to the highest point in the venue and watched most of the rest of the show. ‘Savitri’ started and I was astonished to feel the reverberation from Gabriela’s rhythmic drumming through the wooden barrier, a long way from the action. The the duo’s’Orion’ cover arrived before Rodrigo was left to his own devices with a guitar solo which eventually culminated in the pair joining up to play old favoutite ‘Diablo Rojos’ which drew the biggest response of the night. I then realised that those small mic stands were the cameras and that the pair would stand close to white tape crosses placed on the stage - so that was it!
The set list was clever, and while this was an 11:11 album show, the
pair included several older favourites including a belting, head-banging
performance of ‘Stairway To Heaven’ towards the end of the
show. RYG have come a long way since those early concerts, and now have
a show that truly ‘rocks.’ So absorbed was I in this spectacular
show that I missed recognising certain songs although ‘Atman’, ‘11:11′,
and a breathtaking |