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Firstly, hats off to Jim Moray! Despite the Glee Club announcer asking for audience quiet while performers are on stage, at least half of the crowd talk loudly through his whole set. Still, whether he is unaware or just thick-skinned, Jim still belts out some traditional folk songs that even had me stroking my beard and swinging my pants in appreciation. |
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Sea of Bees, aka Julie Ann Bee ‘Jules’, opened with a gentle, heart and soul on sleeve confessional set of acoustic songs. At times the autobiographical delved towards intense, vulnerable catharsis. Which was exactly her intention. Unsettling for some, embraced by others, as post-gig salutations made evident. Low voltage vignettes for crystal healers maybe, but such sincerity had an innocent charm to be savoured. |
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If an artist is going to tour why co-headline? As excellent as both these gentlemen and their support were on the night it still leaves the questions of why? and what for? If the idea tonight was to give two sets of musicians' fans just a taster of the others output then it was objective achieved because it felt as if we didn't get enough of either Ian Broudie or James Walsh in the end. |
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I like the Glee Club. There’s a certain je-ne-sais-quoi about it. An ambience of fun and mischief, combined with a cool demeanour and soft underbelly. I mean, where else can you eat burger and chips and still be on the front row of your favourite gig? I kid you not. It's folk and roll. I’ve seen it – it’s the future. And so it was that Teddy Thompson found himself in Birmingham on a Wednesday night entertaining an eclectic mix of punters who invariably attend any number of the Glee Clubs comedy or music nights combined with the socialite officiandos of Birmingham’s music scene. |
