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Beverley Craven

Venue: Sage
Town: Gateshead
Date: 27/9/14
Website: http://www.beverleycraven.com/

Introduced by long time sax player as "Our chief cook, washer, tour planner, with more balls than Wimbledon...," Beverley Craven joined her band on stage, joining the banter with "Hello, it's great to be back. Are you all enjoying the show so far?!" She introduced her band to us immediately; beginning with Frank Mead on lod's whistle, harmonica, "but I mainly use him for sax." He was joined by her band. Not forgetting, of course, that Beverley always plays keyboards.

Telling us that after her recent split from her husband, she wrote the first song about a man who was unavailable, the set was opened with You Belong to Someone Else, before delivering a stunning version of Holding On, which was a single in the 1990s.

Having seen Beverley play several times, solo or as a duo with Frank, it was interesting to see how relaxed she seemed throughout the performance, regaling the audience with tales of her early days in the music industry, people she met, and men who have influenced songs over the years; some it seems, warranted more than one song!

Despite the passage of several years since her first appearance in the charts, her voice has never changed, retaining that beautiful and distinctive quality, that quite literally, stops people in its tracks. As she traversed older, well loved songs alongside newer, less familiar songs, the common factors were apparent; the voice, the emotion, the honesty and the relatability.

In relation to the songs they inspired, Beverley talked openly about her personal experiences the past few years, with breast cancer, the loss of her sister recently to the same disease and her divorce. Coupled with the contrasting jokes and banter, it was obvious that she was at ease with the band and audience. Her confidence has most definitely grown over these past few years, which is lovely to see.

Beverley remained true to her word and chatted happily after the show. My only complaint? The omission of Memories, but you can't please everyone all the time. Even without this on the set list, it was obvious that Bev had again left all present with some special memories and looking forward to next time.

Helen Mitchell