Reviews

Artist: John Lees' Barclay James Harvest + Claire Hamill (support)
Venue: The Lowry
Town: Manchester
Date: 12/04/09
Website: http://www.barclayjamesharvest.com

This was the furthest that my wife and I have travelled to see live music, apart from a trip to New York to see the Strawbs. We normally limit ourselves to venues within a two hour travelling radius, but having seen John Lees' Barclay James Harvest at Worthing back in 2006, there was no way we would miss this.

To a Southerner like me, Manchester is famed for its rainfall, but I'm pleased to report that the weather in Manchester over the Easter weekend was lovely, whereas most of the rest of the UK was a bit miserable. Just goes to show that there's no truth in these stereotypes, as evidenced by the total lack of dark satanic mills we encountered after crossing Watford Gap.

Salford Quays, where the Lowry theatre complex is situated, is beautiful. Stunning examples of the best of modern architecture, nestled around the dockside and casting reflections amidst the swans. All in all, very picturesque.

The theatre, with four floors of auditorium, was sold out completely within a day of the tickets going on sale. At the time that the tickets were released, it looked likely that this might be the only UK date this year (with none in 2007 or 2008), so we were very lucky to be in the fourth row. Happy to report though that there are now several dates lined up for the rest of the year.

Ticket price included a lavish full colour souvenir programme, which included a long list of people that the band wished to thank for helping the event to take place. Amazingly, the list included the names of some of us in the audience. I'd just like to take this opportunity of saying, "You're Welcome".

Like many theatres, there was a strict "no photography/ no recording" policy in place, though there were official photographers permitted. Consequently, I wasn't able to take many photographs, so apologies for the lack of any decent pictures with this review.

There had been no mention of a support act on the programme, so when the lights dimmed everyone was expecting the band to come on stage. Instead Claire Hamill appeared. I have wanted to see her for quite a while, as at one time she sang with Wishbone Ash, so it was good to finally get to see her, though I must say, her style of music wasn't quite to my tastes. She did a fairly passable version of "Barbara Allen", but I did feel that she would have fitted in better at a folk club, rather than as support to a supergroup.

For Allan Wilkinson's review of Claire at the Regent in Doncaster in 2007 see http://www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazine/clairehamilllive.html

Finally though, and, to great applause BJH finally hit the stage.

JLBJH have two keyboard players. Woolly Wolstenholme, and Jez Smith. The sound system at the Lowry is second to none, with excellent stereo separation, so that you could clearly make out which keyboard was playing which notes.

Woolly's Mellotron gives the band a complete orchestral sound. Later this year they are going to be playing at the Memories of Woodstock festival at Shrewsbury accompanied by a full orchestra. I can't imagine how amazing that will sound.

John Lees's stage persona (note the correct use of the apostrophe - sorry to be a pedant) is immaculate. With his perfectly ironed trousers, waistcoat and tie, he doesn't look like a rock-god. But he is. Not only is he one of the world's best guitarists, he has a voice to die for. Although his voice has famously been compared with Justin Hayward's (Moody Blues), there is no comparison. Justin's voice may be chocolate, but John's is Cadburys. Not only does he excel on guitar and vocals, as he demonstrated, he can also get a mean tune from a recorder.

Like any superhero, John is happy to merge into the background, leaving Woolly to front the band and introduce the songs. Like John, Woolly plays a variety of instruments, mainly keyboards, but also a twelve string, an acoustic guitar and a harmonica. Oh, and also he sings as well. Woolly worked really hard bouncing between keyboards, and guitars. He must have been exhausted by the end.

Centre stage though is their bassist, Craig Fletcher. Chatted to him after the show, and like every other bassist I've met, he's lovely. He is also a damn fine bassist, often taking the lead, and he also sings.

Kev Whitehead completes the line-up on percussion. I say, completes, but that isn't quite true. John's son, JJ Lees, occasionally joins the band, to play cornet, and we were lucky enough that this was one such occasion.

As you would expect from a band with two keyboard players, the music is complex, intricate, and beautiful, ranging in style from the hard rocking "Loving is Easy", through the gentle ballad "Galadriel" to the rock anthem "Mockingbird". A few of their songs were originally written as homages to other groups, but are so good that they stand on their own. "Poor Man's Moody Blues" was written by John in a fit of pique after a review in a music journal. "The Great 1974 Mining Disaster" was based on a Bee Gees song, adapted as a protest against the Ted Heath government. I'm not certain, but I suspect that "In Search of England" owes much to Genesis's Selling England By The Pound.

But not only did they play their old favo-rites. Woolly played a 'brand new' song, "The Light at the End of the World", the title being derived from Jules Verne's Lighthouse at the End of the World. He wrote this song just as the Bunsfield Oil depot exploded, and has played it before in Italy (and now they've had an earthquake!). He described it as four miserable verses, and offered a help-line number for those who were affected by it. Great song and great to know that the band have a future as well as a past.

Afterwards, Craig suggested that they play "Suicide" to cheer everyone up, and John quipped that Woolly could probably get his money back on the guitar if he pretended that he hadn't used it. I loved the between-songs banter, particularly between Woolly and Craig, and loved the way that they didn't take themselves too seriously. They had as much fun as the audience.

We were treated to two encores. First one being "She Said", written by Les Holroyd, an original BJH member, now in "Barclay James Harvest Featuring Les Holroyd." Finally, and particularly appropriate as it was Easter Sunday, they ended the show with "Hymn" and received a well deserved standing ovation from the audience.

It has probably been said before, but just in case, I'll say it now - "Whoever said that the Devil has all the best music hadn't heard Barclay James Harvest."

Set list:

For No One
Great 1974 Mining Disaster
Poor Wages (with JJ)
Iron Maiden
Child of the Universe
Loving is Easy
The Light at the End of the World (Woolly's new song)
Poor Man's Moody Blues
Galadriel
Harbour
Suicide
Medicine Man
In Search of England
Mocking Bird (with JJ)
The Poet/ After The Day

Encore
She Said
Hymn (with JJ)

Pete Bradley