Reviews

Event: Yusuf Islam - I Guess I'll Take My Time Tour
Venue: National Indoor Arena
Town: Birmingham
Date: 23rd November 2009
Website: http://www.yusufislam.org.uk/

I first heard of Cat Stevens via my big sister's friend - A very devoted Steve Fan. The friend loaned her "Tea For the Tillerman" & "Teaser and the Firecat". Not sure what year this was, but there was a big age gap between me and my sister. For a further clue I don't think CDs were even a twinkle in Tower Records Merchandiser's eye. The pretty LP Covers had a strong call (especially Teaser and the Firecat), but as Vinyl needed precision handling, I was under strict instructions not to touch!

You can't always do what you're told. The music I heard coming from my sister's room along with those beautiful covers, made the temptation too great. As soon as her back was turned and she was safely at her Saturday job, the naughty little sister in me, snuck into her room and carefully removed the albums.

It took me ages to peel the vinyl from the two covers (did not want to damage them or leave evidence/fingerprints, that I may have taken them - I had seen Z-Cars).

Teaser and the Firecat was the first to be played. From "The Wind" I was hooked - in fact not sure I managed to play Tea for the Tillerman at that sitting. Cat/Yusuf has hung around my life ever since - so I suppose, even before Donny Osmond, I had an infatuation for Cat Stevens.

By the time I was old enough, Cat Stevens had given up music, so the opportunity of ever seeing him live, even if my parents had let me, never came into my world. Monday 23rd November 2009 was a much anticipated date, and did not disappoint.

Cat Stevens came on as Yusuf Islam - the jet black curly tussled hair may have now been calmed and coloured by time, but his stage presence is very much still there, and his voice has not been touched by time at all. What a lovely man. He started the evening by introducing a 25 minute snippet of his new musical "Moonshadow". The main characters as small children started the play and Yusuf when necessary played the part of Narrator. As the play progressed we were introduced to the rest of the 11 strong cast, where a lot of talent and some amazing voices were demonstrated. What I saw, showed promise, the songs and the cast are strong and wonderful.

After a break for a stage reset, Yusuf came back onto the stage to loud applause and cries. It was nice that Birmingham was as pleased to be there as I was. He started the set acoustically and on his own with "Lillywhite" (from Mona Bone Jakon), which was beautiful. I noticed the iconic Street lamp and bent dustbin from this album cover had been recreated and set up in an area of the stage - I love this album. The set was very clever, yet subtle and as the evening progressed, the reasons behind the stage layout started to become apparent.

I did not keep a set list, as it was too dark to write everything down legibly, but how I wish I had. In fact much later, Yusuf shared with us that the set list he had been given, was not the one he had expected, (presumably the piece of paper he had been given had the running order from his previous concert at Dublin). He asked for it to be changed and graciously praised the young man, who assisted him.

For the next song - "The Wind", he was joined by Alun Davies, and for the following number, Trevor Barry the bassist was added to the accompaniment. For each song, a new member of the band was added with corresponding more complex lighting and back projection, until finally a gauze screen was raised and the complete band was revealed.

To help those of us further towards the back of the auditorium, close ups of Yusuf and the band were projected onto a back screen, bordered by some wonderful artwork that had been contributed to by Yusuf's son. To give some idea of the style, I felt it was reminiscent of some of Rodney Matthews work.

The set list was a great balance, which I think in Birmingham pleased both the hardened long standing Cat Stevens fans, and the Yusuf faithful. It was lovely to hear "Morning Has Broken" away from my school hall and without Mrs Hawkes accompaniment on the piano! Something I did not know, which Yusuf informed us of, was that the wonderful piano on the original recording was performed by Rick Wakeman. For this evening Pete Adams covered this role quite admirably. One of the highlights for me was the "Moonshadow" rendition, for which Yusuf was joined by Noel Sullivan, who is playing the lead character "Stormy" in the musical of the same name. During this number there was some great soulful harmonies from Alison Jiear (who plays Stormy's mum).

Another highlight for me was "I think I see the light", which showcased the talent of Kwame Yeboah (credited for Keys/Percussion/Guitar), with his Monkees style keyboard fill - Yusuf's description and not mine - that was really fun and a great version - hope it makes it onto a recording.

All the proceeds from this tour are being donated to charity by Yusuf. The concert was a marvellous experience of going on a gentle journey through this artist's amazing catalogue of songs, both past and present. It also brought to the fore the diversity of his song writing talent, from the gentle reflective "Father & Son" to the faster paced "Tuesday's Dead" as well as his genuine humanity. I am sad that I was only able to get tickets for this performance. Yusuf has called the tour "I'll Guess I'll Take My Time", I just hope it is not another 33 years before we get the chance to see him live again.

Moonshadow - The Musical Cast List:
Noel Sullivan - Stormy
Connor Panayi (Young Stormy)
Allyson Ava Brown - Anees
Lauren Ellington (Young Anees)
James Staddon - Mr Mangus (Stormy's Dad)
Alison Jiear Lily (Stormy's Mum)
Chris Holland - Chorus
Kenny Thompson - Chorus
Victoria Hamilton Barritt - Chorus
Fiona Reyes - Chorus
Arinze Kene - Chorus

Band:
Pete Adams - Piano/Keys M.D.
Alun Davies - Guitar
Eric Appapoulay - Guitar
Trevor Barry - Bass
Ian Thomas - Drums
Kwame Yeboah - Keys/Percussion/Guitar

Calli Bradley

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