Lighthouse Family @ Symphony Hall, 3rd March 2011
Tonight, the Symphony Hall prepares for a blast from the past, with pop duo Lighthouse Family. Taking rise in the mid nineties and remaining active until early 2000, they are a band which shaped my childhood, a soundtrack to a generation. The audience tonight seems to consist of middle aged concert-goers, but often accompanied by teenage offspring, who grew up listening to hits such as High, Lifted and Ocean Drive.
But firstly, pop-acoustic performer Ben Montague. Hailing from London, he’s very good at writing poppy hooks, layered with a mixture of piano and guitar tunes. It’s nothing too different from successful pop artists such as Paolo Nutini and James Morrison, but this man’s voice is top notch. With some obvious admirers within the crowd already, Ben seems genuinely amazed at the size of venue in which he’s been placed, and sometimes can struggle to occupy silences between songs, whether due to lack of experience or the overwhelming situation before him. Mentioning an album release later in the year, it’s sure to create a stir amongst radio and pop fans alike.
Lighthouse Family originate from Newcastle, in which vocalist Tunde Baiyewu and keyboard player Paul Tucker, began to write tunes which they wanted to create sunshine out of the speaker’s in a basement on cassette tape. Now they return, as a band with over 10 million record sales worldwide and a new album in the pipeline, to be welcomed back on the UK music scene and remind fan’s why they were so popular originally.
Mostly appealing to the motherly generation of the 90’s, the band had top selling singles and albums, with the music reaching many a child forced to listen on the car stereo. With a full live band, featuring two percussion players, two extra keyboardists, guitar player and two backing singers, the band take to the stage at around 9.30. That’s not after one of the longest musical introductions I’ve known, which fails to excite or amaze, if not only to calm you down into a state of boredom. With a tall lighting rig, and screen showing band logo and light shows, the stage and setting complements the slow, relaxed atmosphere that Lighthouse try to create.
With both members taking turns in which to address audience, it’s Paul Tucker who stands out as being a little eccentric and funny to watch, if not just for random hand gestures towards the audience. All songs sound much larger in the live setting, with singles such as High, Lifted and Ocean Drive all excited the audience into a singing mob.
Highlights included songs such as Raincloud and Run, with Tunde’s voice seeming to warm up as the performance lead on.
When a song needs to be performed twice, as is the case tonight with High, an acoustic version and that of a full band, you start to question how much this song means to the band’s success and development. It’s at this point you remember, that without such a song there wasn’t as much leverage to reach the audience that are gathered here today, but to perform a song twice, in my opinion is only to stretch the performance beyond means not needed.
Overall though, a splendid return from one of the best vocalists in the music industry, and we can only hope for more of the same in the future.
Reviewe – Dan Earl
Photos – Ken Harrison