Loading

Boo Hewerdine

Venue: The Met
Town: Bury
Date: 8/4/14
Website: http://www.boohewerdine.net

The appropriately named 'my name in the brackets' tour was a perfect opportunity for the master songsmith who is Boo Hewerdine to delve into a songbook of rare quality and present himself as much more than a songwriter for more artists than you'd care (or dare) to mention.

As well as his own solo material, there's his band The Bible alongside collaborations with the likes of Neil MacColl, Eddi Reader, songs and music for film and TV plus songwriting duties for a veritable who's who of contemporary music from folk and country to the pop charts. Not only was this a fascinating opportunity to hear his solo interpretations from the catalogue but also a genuinely entertaining evening with stories about anyone from the world of music whose name would emerge from the audience. Name dropping by any stretch of the imagination it's not. Be it a hard luck story from his own perspective - missing out on a duet with kd Lang or a disastrous tale of 'television trouser' malfunctions in front of a TV audience of millions on the Wogan show ("it's all out there on the internet") , there was a tale for all occasions. Of them all, the Elvis Costello 'cheese theft' incident and the Richard Thompson 'rider smuggling' episode went down particularly well - and then there was the one about being sung to sleep by Jackson Browne………….without revealing the punchline, it's a good enough excuse to get to one of the gigs.

Combined with the music, and to coin a phrase, not a duff song amongst them, there was the typical understated humour and self-depreciation which seems to be part of the makeup of incredibly talented musical individuals. If success is measured in terms of how many sheds a song would buy or whether or not it will reach the heady heights of #39 in the charts then he's a rich man.

Highlight of the evening though must go to the final encore. Having already had a terrific version of Boo's 'Harvest Gypsies' sung by Kris Drever (20 years younger but one of his heroes) and Eamomn Coyne at The Met back in February, the delivery by the man himself, without the use of the PA as he stood in the shadows at the lip of the stage, was perhaps the performance of the year at The Met so far.

In the words of one of his new songs - the album which bears the same name as the tour is due later this year, although the 'Amazing Robot' single is out now (all about the amazing magic robot toy of the seventies - remember them?) - he sings of "people like you and me never get to shine" - which is why the 'in brackets' tour is such a treasure; giving Boo a chance to step from between the brackets, out of the box and far from being the reluctant hero, give his own trumpet a damn good blast for once.

Boo has been accompanied at various stops on the tour, this one included, by Icelandic singer songwriter Hafdis Huld providing a warm up slot. Her and her partner Aliisdair Wright played a tempting half hour set which will have many exploring further her three album catalogue and live dates. Just like one of Iceland's other high profile musical exports, Bjork, she has that slightly kooky persona; at one point giving a lengthy introduction before realising she'd veered off the setlist yet also delivering a touching sentiment of a song relating to the death of her brother with some touching words - 'if only I had a moment I wouldn't see the clouds'. 'Queen Bee' - the current single from her newly released album 'Home' ' and 'Action Man' showed perfectly how Hafdis was able to pop her ukulele on a stand and leave the instrumental duties to her partner, setting up a rhythm to accompany a gently picked guitar and deliver her soft breathy vocal. After a short break to devote time to a new family, it's great to see she's made a strong comeback with the new album and by getting out to play to Boo's audience.

Words & Pictures Mike Ainscoe