Well that was better than expected. Mr. Ryder did himself proud, coming on early (half 8) and soldiering on for nearly an hour and a half - pretty damn good considering he was seriously ill last month. Starting with my personal favourite, Kinky Afro, he sang half a dozen Mondays songs throughout the course of the night including Loose Fit and Wrote For Luck, followed by three Black Grape numbers, which really stole the show. He also sang four new solo songs from a forthcoming album which were good, the last one (his first encore tune) was a belter. He also sang my guilty pleasure - Gorillaz DARE - which was a marvellous treat. The night was completed by the brilliant Step On. Top notch all round.
Yes there were glitches - MC Tonn and Julie, his two backing singers were much better vocally (but SWR never been much of a singer) and he was often muted by sound problems. Ryds had to check down once or twice at the lyrics taped to the floor (but not as often as expected), and unfortunately the venue was only half full (but everyone there idolized him). However he looked fit and well, still has his presence on stage and a cool new way of holding his mic.
Pleased the gig was postponed if I'm honest. Because ones that went ahead when he was still poorly drew up some crap reviews and negative assumptions about him (at Sheffield he only did half an hour before giving up and walking out to boos. Was because he was ill, not because he was showing contempt). This performance in Newcastle was a million miles away from this. SWR was a top professional - although he did forget where he was playing to - and although it wasn't a polished performance, it was a performance non the less and a pretty damn good one for nostalgic reminiscing.
No comments:
Post a Comment