Joan Armatrading + Lisbee Stainton @ Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 1st May 2010
Symphony Hall is full tonight, every seat taken downstairs and a fair few upstairs as well. A major star who grew up in Birmingham, Joan Armatrading has attracted a mixed audience — a range of ages, Brummies there to welcome her home, lots of lesbians (Joan’s always had a strong lesbian following). Many are obviously keen fans — clutching t-shirts, posters and CDs as they take their seats.
The evening kicks off with the support act, Lisbee Stainton. LiSbee’s been around for a few years and has received some excellent reviews for both her CDs and her live performances. She was accompanied by Donna Thompson on backing vocals and Simon Wiener on double bass, both excellent musicians in their own right.
I had mixed feelings about Lisbee’s set. Some of the songwriting I really liked — ‘Practice Room’, a song about a building with the cacophony of various musicians all practicing at once was clever and funny, pointing out that ‘This is why birds migrate to sing’. ‘Girl on an Unmade Bed’, the title track to her new album, had very nice harmonies sung by the two women and was interesting rhythmically and the final song ‘Never Quite an Angel’ was perhaps the best of the set. Some of the others didn’t really grab me. Nonetheless, she’s a comfortable and confident singer with an excellent voice — and there was blessedly little between song chit-chat! (I’ve recently been to a number of singer-songwriter gigs where the singer told the audience far more than we wanted to know about her personal life …. It was a relief to listen to someone who recognised that we were there for the music.)
After the interval, we returned to a darkened stage. Whistles and applause from the audience. Three men arrive and start playing — keyboards, cello, drums. Joan Armatrading arrives with electric guitar, dressed in a black jacket and trousers and launches into the first song. The audience recognise it and applaud, the light show at the back of the stage starts and we’re in. No chat, straight onto the next song. It’s ‘Something’s Gotta Blow’, a politicised bluesy number that shows off Joan’s husky voice beautifully. The song goes on for 7 or 8 minutes with images of flames across the back of the stage and the audience begins to join in, in a kind of call and response. I find myself thinking that the figure of the strong female rock singer and lead guitarist is still a rare one and Joan’s energy and strength are a pleasure to watch.
At the end of the song, Joan strides to the front of the stage and addresses the audience. ‘You’re too quiet.’ The audience erupt. Joan rolls her eyes. ‘Now you’re too noisy!’ ‘So talk to me. What’s been happening since I saw you last?’ The audience are silent, not sure how to respond. Finally someone in the back shouts ‘Welcome home, Joan!’ She blushes and the show carries on.
The audience again enthusiastically recognise ‘All the Way from America’, sung by the whole band with a waving US flag as backdrop. Joan gets the audience waving their arms in the air. Some join in, others are more reluctant. I sense a fair amount of reverence in this audience, people who want to gaze adoringly at the singer rather than throwing themselves into participation.
The songs continue back to back – ‘Two Tears’, ‘Cry’. ‘Promises’, ‘Into the Blues’, ‘A Woman in Love’. At this point I have a feeling that that the audience are reacting too quietly and passively for Joan’s satisfaction. Most of the material has been from recent albums. Is this a nostalgia crowd? Are they waiting for the old songs? They’re appreciative but quiet. I find myself thinking of Rick Nelson’s ‘Garden Party’ song, about a singer whose audience want everything – his looks, his songs – to be just like they used to be.
The response to the next song — the classic ‘Love and Affection’ and possibly Joan’s best known song — is loud and enthusiastic, with a mini-standing ovation at the end. It is a fine performance, sung with guitar and keyboards and no drums — the percussionist (an enthusiastically smiling man who seems to be having a wonderful time all evening) playing saxophone for the second half of the number.
This is a confident and energetic show. After another old one, ‘Tall in the Saddle’, Joan returns to more recent material, ‘My Baby’s Gone’ and the title track from ‘This Charming Life’, one of the best songs about being in love that I’ve heard for a long time. Although I still think that many of the audience came tonight wanting the old songs, she’s gradually winning them over.
She decides to try to get some audience participation going again with ‘Best Dress On’, and tells us that she keeps a league table on her website of which audience does it best and that Glasgow, currently, is winning. A few boos for Glasgow and the audience joins in, clapping as instructed. General fun all round with a catch up-beat song. (I checked when I got home. She does have a league table. Birmingham came fourth. Oh well…)
Another few songs — ‘You Rope Me, You Tie Me’, ‘Going Back to New York City’ and a couple of others, with the band playing with gusto and Joan strutting across the stage looking like she was having the time of her life. She finished with ‘Willow’, a song almost as well-known and popular as ‘Love and Affection’ and, part-way through told the band to play quietly, stopped singing and listened as the audience sang it to her.
The evening hadn’t ended, however, and at this point the Deputy Lord Mayor of Birmingham came on stage to present her with a Birmingham Walk of Stars plaque. The Walk of Stars on Broad Street honours people who have made a significant contribution in the categories of music, television, film, radio, theatre, sport, business and literacy. They must still be alive and either from the Birmingham area or have performed at major venues in Birmingham. He ran through her achievements (which of course are many, including an MBE, three Grammy nominations, a Brit Award nomination, various honorary degrees, no. 1 in the Billboard Blues chart, 19 albums, performing live for Nelson Mandela, etc., etc.) This wasn’t a surprise to all — there had been a number of local newspaper articles about it in the fortnight running up to the gig, but it gave those present a lot of pleasure. Joan quipped that she ‘would like to meet this Joan Armatrading’ that the Deputy Mayor was describing and asked us all to ‘tread gently’ on her when walking down Broad Street.
Then it was the final number, another old one, the rousing ‘Drop the Pilot’ and after massive applause, the crowd spilled out into the night.
Review – Betty Hagglund
Photos – Karen Strunks