José González + Ólöf Arnalds @ Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry 13th March, 2015
José González played just three dates at smaller venues on the UK leg of his Europe and US tour. He is back on the road to promote his latest record “Vestiges & Claws” and having been a fan of his first album and it being nearly eight years since his last, I was keen to catch him at Warwick Arts Centre where he was playing in the Butterworth Hall.
I imagine that a lot of people may say they have never heard of José González, but play them the intro to Heartbeats, and I’m sure a whole heap of them will recognise the song made famous by a Sony advert back in 2005, (Remember, the one with all of the coloured bouncy balls).
I arrived just before the support act for tonight started, Ólöf Arnalds. Her forty minute set was just right for the waiting crowd which had already filled most of the room, and her sweet tones and dulcet melodies had the room captivated. It’s quite easy to see why she has a strong following back in her native Iceland.
Given the sound of José González, I was expecting one man and his guitar. So it was a pleasant surprise when he appeared on stage with a full band, comprising of keys, a second guitar, drums and a percussionist. He looks genuinely happy on stage and comes across as the kind of guy that you could never get angry with. From the opening song he pretty much had the already chilled out crowd in his hands, he seemed to have a great connection with his audience too, even though he said very little throughout the whole evening. That connection is perhaps quite important, given the fact that his mellow guitar playing and soft vocal harmonies could send the room to sleep (in a good way) possibly in a matter of seconds..
He starts with three songs from the new record, before giving us a good mixed set of his better known songs from the prior two records. After six songs, the band disappear from the stage and leave us alone with González for a short solo set of three songs, with Heartbeats getting the best reaction from the room so far. The band then appear once more to carry on right where they had left off.
He is pretty well known for his stunning covers and he didn’t disappoint on that front either, with my personal favourites being his covers of Kylies’s “Hand on Your Heart” and Massive Attack’s “Teardrops” (if you haven’t heard either before then check them out, they’re tip-top).
Once González and the band the leave the stage, and after the inevitable clapping and shouting from the room, they arrive back on stage for the encore. Again with material from the new record which was released just last month, yet surprisingly everyone in the Butterworth Hall that night seemed to know the words to almost every song. A sign as to how committed his fans are perhaps.
Setlist
Afterglow
Stories We Build, Stories We Tell
Let It Carry You
Killing For Love
In Our Nature
What Will
Crosses
Hints
Heartbeats
Hand On Your Heart
With The Ink of a Ghost
Home
This Is How We Walk on the Moon
Teardrop
Down the Line
Encore
Always
Every Age
Leaf Off / The Cave
Review & Photos – John Dent