Reviews

Artists: Dead Like Harry/ Morning Orchestra/ Chris Ricketts and Sarah Danby
Venue: The Cellars
Town: Eastney, Hants
Date: 22/07/09
Website: http://www.deadlikeharry.com/
http://www.myspace.com/themorningorchestra
http://www.myspace.com/rickettsmusic

It isn't mid-week concerts that are tiring per se. It's the getting up the next morning to go to work that is exhausting. Given a fair choice, I'd far rather give up the going to work, but that would only mean that the taxman had to sqeeze the rest of you harder. Normally, therefore I try and avoid gigs in the middle of the week.

However, as soon as we found that Dead Like Harry were back at the Cellars in Eastney we knew that we had to be there, and the tiredness was something we would have to live with.

Not only is The Cellars (or should that be ARE The Cellars) a wonderful music venue that attracts an appreciative audience that don't chatter throughout the performance, they also keep their beer better than any other bar that I know.

The only problem is the lack of parking. Every time we go there we seem to have to park further and further away. Next time, we'll probably end up having to park in Southampton.

Don't think I've ever seen the place as crowded. Think that there's a fair chance that many people there, though had come to see the opening act, a guy called Chris Ricketts. Chris is a regular at The Cellars, but is now studying at Newcastle University, so no doubt he doesn't play The Cellars as often. Eastney's loss is Newcastle's gain.

Chris reached the semi finals in the Radio 2 Young Folk Awards, so it isn't just me that rates him.

Although everytime previously I have seen Chris before he has played as a solo artist, he has now teamed up with a fellow student from Newcastle, a girl called Sarah Danby. Sarah complements him well. She plays piano and violin, as well as singing, and not only that, she looks good too.

For their opening number, and for the final song of their set, they were joined by Gareth Howell, one half of a duo called Bemis.

They played a mixture of old traditional songs, and some original songs written by Chris. My favorite was The Briery Bush, a very old traditional song, with variants in several different languages. One variant of which was The Gallis Pole, made famous by Leadbelly, but the most famous version was recorded in 1970 by Led Zeppelin: The Gallows Pole.

Look out for Chris and Sarah. They'll go far. If you want to see more, here's a link to Youtube: The Briery Bush

Set list was:
River
Manic Moment
The Briery Bush
I Will Follow
Spanish Ladies
Feel No Shame
Which Side?

Chris and Sarah were followed by a band I'd never heard of before, but I think they all currently study at my alma mater: Sussex University. If I told you that their front man plays a ukuele, and that the band's name includes the word "Orchestra", you'd mistakenly make the assumption that they were similar to the Ukuele Orchestra of Great Britain, but that's far from the truth. The only similarity is that they are both completely original.

Morning Orchestra is a four piece band, Pete on drums, Richard on guitar, Andrew on bass and Dave, their lead singer who plays keyboards in addition to the uke. I'm sure there are things in my fridge with a sell-by date older than any of them, but what they lack in age they make up for in skill and energy.

I could tell that they were going to be different whilst they were running through a quick pre-gig sound check. Dave played a few notes on the piano, and then asked the sound man that to turn it down. Don't think I've ever heard a musician asking for less volume before!

Couldn't possibly mention this band without a reference to their sartorial elegance. Think of Peter Davison's Doctor Who and you'll get the picture. They looked ready for a picnic of cucumber sandwiches prior to an afternoon's punt on the Cam.

They played all of their own material, all of which was excellent.

To minimise set change-over time, the drummer borrowed Dead Like Harry's drums (just as Sarah Danby used their keyboard). Couldn't help notice that Pete rested a newspaper on the top of the bass drum, and I wondered if this was a unique means of altering the sound quality. As it turned out, he'd written the set list over Page 3 of the Sun. Dave pointed out that he'd written on Peta from Essex.

At the interval, I copied out the set list (at least that's my excuse as to why I was studying Peta from Essex), but of course, the list was simply a reminder for the drummer as to what track to play next, rather than a fully written out list. I've tried to expand the list to give the full song titles where I can, but I apologise if there are any errors.

Again, if you want to see them for yourself, here's another link to Youtube: Lullaby

To the best of my abilities, Set list was:
Helter Skelter
Dancing With The Devil
Petal On Your Shoe
Southern Girls
Don't Let It get You Down
Lucky Star
Lullaby
Everything's Alright
Dreaming
Caroline
Jen O'Brien

Since last I saw Dead Like Harry, much has happened to them. Amongst other things, they reached the final of the 2009 Emerging Talent competition; they got to play at the Glastonbury festival in front of a huge crowd, they helped renovate a studio, and have recorded a new album, hopefully due for release later this year.

A very busy and exciting year for them, with some very well deserved accolades.

When they played at Glastonbury, to keep the crowd energised, they dropped the quieter numbers from their set. Glad to report a few slower ones have crept back on the set list, most notable was a track new to me called Driving To Nowhere, (will be on their new album). This was truly beautiful, and was probably the highlight of the evening.

Loved the way that they ran one song into another. Have seen them do this with a couple of songs before, but this time they hardly paused between songs at all, apart from a brief gap to allow John, their gutarist, to remove a cardigan.

Really looking forward to seeing them at Cambridge Rock Festival next month, and really looking forward to the new album.

As expected, didn't enjoy having to get up the next morning to go to work, but it was well worth the pain. A really good evening, with some really good bands.

Again, a link to Youtube if you want to hear them for your self. Apologies if the sound is a little distorted, that's down to my camera rather than to them Walk In Through The Morning

Set list was:
Sarah
I Couldn't Love You Anymore
1000 Miles
Road Trip
Where The Bands Are
You're Not Alone
Watching Your Eyes
Fight
Walk In Through The Morning
Driving To Nowhere
What A Bloody Shame
When We Were Seventeen
Streets
Cherry Street
Satellite
Cross The Water
Joanna

Pete Bradley

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