We were promised a Brighton Bonanza and, by crikey, that’s what we got! Barbara and The Brighton Beach Boys gave 2024 an almighty kick-start on an exhilarating evening at Brighton’s bijou billet, The Latest Music Bar. With all those B’s, we felt we had to add a few more, so we sent John Barlass along to browse and boogie.

If 2023 was a great year for Barbara, the quirky fop-poppers who are one of At The Barrier’s hottest tips for greatness, then 2024 is shaping up to be truly momentous. 2023 saw the Brighton outfit release a string of delectable singles – Enduring Love, Pretty Straight Guy and Master Narrative, each one seemingly lifting Barbara to an even more rarified level – before they set out to expand their appeal exponentially on a tour of the UK and Ireland in support of Haircut 100 (see our review of their show at Manchester’s O2 Ritz here.) 

And, as for 2024 – well! The band are delighted to have been invited to support Paul Weller on his already-sold-out UK tour that kicks off at The Lighthouse, Poole on 4th April and includes shows at such august venues as the prestigious De Montfort Hall in Leicester, York Barbican, Sheffield City Hall and Cambridge Corn Exchange. And that’s not all! A little bird tells me that Barbara’s debut full-length album is currently in the works and may very well make its welcome appearance sometime during this year. Watch this space…

THE LATEST MUSIC BAR

But – one thing at a time – let’s get back to the evening of Thursday 18th January 2024 and that Brighton Bonanza. The show at The Latest Music Bar was Barbara’s first in their home city since last summer and, to make sure that 2024 started as Barbara mean to go on, they got together with local heroes The Brighton Beach Boys to give as many people as could wedge themselves into the tiny venue an evening to remember.

The Latest Music Bar is hidden away up a side street just off Brighton’s impressive Marine Parade, a mere stone’s throw from the world-famous Palace Pier. It’s easy to miss – indeed, I almost did – but the background music that was playing as I cautiously entered the venue (the playlist – compiled by Mr Tydeman Snr, I was to learn – included the Carry On theme and Captain Scarlet) reassured me that I was in the right place. The throng, assembling in the venue’s homely bar area had “In The Know” written all over them and, if I hadn’t had the requisite insider knowledge myself, I might have felt like I was intruding on a very private and very ‘Brighton’ party. But, as we know, everyone is made to feel welcome at a Barbara gig – confirmed Barbarette, or Barbarette-to-be.

Like in all the best venues, the performance space at The Latest Music Bar is in the basement, down a narrow flight of stairs, and it certainly filled up quickly. Indeed, moving around soon became a luxury available to the privileged few and a real party atmosphere was in the air as a blast of Sinatra’s I Left My Heart in San Francisco announced The Brighton Beach Boys’ arrival on stage. 

THE BRIGHTON BEACH BOYS

The Brighton Beach Boys are clearly something of a local institution and the Barbara boys were pleased and honoured to be sharing the evening’s bill with them. They’re tight and tuneful, their reproductions of classic Beach Boys songs are forensic, with harmonies that are indistinguishable from the real thing, and they don’t shy away from covering the more intricate material from the Beach Boys’ extensive repertoire. 

The band, Glen Richardson on keys and lead vocals, Stephen Wrigley on guitar,. Adrian Marshall on bass and Tom Arnold on drums are all masters of their craft and, as if such an array of talent isn’t quite enough, their lineup for this show also featured the amazing Charlotte Glasson – fresh from her tour with Graham Coxon’s The Waeve – on saxes and, hidden away so effectively at the edge of the stage that I couldn’t even catch him in any of my photographs, the mighty Chris Spedding on guitar!

The Brighton Beach Boys’ setlist was an imaginative blend of the obvious, the familiar and the not-so-familiar. I Can Hear Music got the show off to a warm, summery, Californian start, before Charlotte moved over to her glockenspiel to add the tinkly touches to Wouldn’t It Be Nice. Glen asked if anyone in the packed assembly was a surfer (nobody was, it seems) by way of introduction to a double-header of Surfer Girl and Surfin’ Safari, before the band took a short excursion away from the beaten track with a scorching version of Friends, the title track of one of my favourite Beach Boys albums.

Returning to more familiar territory, Charlotte provided the requisite wave-crashing sounds on Tom’s cymbal and bassist Adrian added the falsetto high notes for Catch a Wave. California Girls was next, and the harmonies were awesome, before Stephen stepped forward to take the lead vocal on I Get Around, with the rest of the band adding a dash of excitement with rapid handclaps. Surfin’ USA gave Adrian his turn at the lead mic, whilst the version of Sail on Sailor, an often-overlooked track from the Beach Boys’ Holland album was one of the evening’s true highlights. Up until this point, I hadn’t really noticed the be-quiffed second guitarist, tucked away at the back of the stage, and I wasn’t the only bemused member of the audience peering around the room to try and locate the source of the fantastic guitar solo that so illuminated the song. Neither was I the only audience member to do a double-take when, at the end of the song, Glen announced “Chris Spedding, ladies and gentlemen!”

A choppy, funky version of Do It Again was followed by a glorious Help Me Rhonda, and that was nearly it. Nearly, but not quite. It must take an unearthly amount of skill, confidence and courage to attempt to reproduce a song like Good Vibrations live, on stage, and those are qualities that The Brighton Beach Boys obviously hold in abundance. They nailed it. Charlotte played the theremin parts on her flute, and the harmonies, particularly on the “Gotta keep those Good Vibrations…” part, were divine. The place was swaying, and the show was still only halfway through.

BARBARA

The mood for a Barbara appearance is always enhanced by the background music that’s played in the lead-up to the band’s appearance. The tunes get quirkier and, as the the theme to Top Cat gave way to Central Services we knew that Barbara were in the vicinity. At The Barrier has covered a handful of Barbara shows over the past couple of years and it seems that each gig is even better than that last. Confidence, sharpness, stage presence and intensity all get higher with each appearance and that was certainly the case at The Latest Music Bar – Barbara were on top form from start to finish. John must have covered every inch of the stage just during opening number, Waiting Outside Alone, whilst Henry retained an impassiveness at his keyboard that even Ron Mael would struggle to match. Jack Hosgood on bass, Lawrie Miller on drums and Dean Llewellyn on guitar all stayed in their places (difficult to do otherwise as far as Lawrie is concerned) but they nevertheless looked thoroughly up for it.

Early single, These New Communications was followed by Barbara’s latest offering, the magnificent Master Narrative – perhaps the band’s greatest achievement so far, and John raised a cheer from the crowd by mentioning his eager anticipation for the Paul Weller sojourn. Pretty Straight Guy, another recent(ish) single and another of my own particular faves had the whole room – friends, parents, siblings and newly-initiated Barbarettes bopping and singing along, before the band were joined by Charlotte Glasson on sax for Enduring Love. As John explained, Charlotte popped into the studio whilst Barbara were recording the song and she “Threw some horns over it,” to the clear delight of the rest of the band.

John, it seems, was suffering from a bit of a sore throat, picked up, he believed, whilst listening The Brighton Beach Boys’ set from outside the venue. During Rainy Days in June (dedicated, by John, to “All the introverts out there.”) John took the opportunity to “part” the tightly-packed crowd and pop upstairs for a glass of warm water to ease his throat, whilst band and crowd kept the show going with an extended singalong. It was great fun, and I, for one, couldn’t detect any ill-effects of the throat irritation upon John’s vocals.

The only totally ‘new’ song in Barbara’s set for the evening hasn’t yet been bestowed with a formal name, but even under it’s working title of Grandad, it worked a treat. The band donned beards and flat caps to enter into the spirit of the song and Dean hit the heights with a stunning guitar solo. The acapella harmony intro to old favourite, A Perishing of Cherished Things, was amazing, John waved frantically during the “Go abroad on holiday” chorus and the grand ending to the song was perfect. John may have been suffering – he even pleaded with his mother, dancing away at the front of the crowd, to help him find his lost voice – but it still wasn’t evident to those of us watching, and his adrenaline continued to propel him around the stage during a stirring Don’t Send Me Messages.

It struck me, as John thanked the evening’s audience for Barbara-ifying the room, that he might actually be turning into Rik Mayall, such is the confidence of his stage presence, but my comparative-alternative-comedian musings were interrupted by the Abba chimes that announced set-closer BRB. Always a crowd-pleaser, it had the Latest Music Bar audience leaping and clapping – they loved it.

And that wasn’t quite the end. I had an inkling that The Brighton Beach Boys would be back, and my suspicions were justified; they did return, to join Barbara on a busting version of – what else – Barbara Ann, decorated by a thoroughly spiffing guitar solo from Mr Spedding. And still there was the time and energy left for one final number. Glen Richardson urged the crowd to “Join hands across the generations” and the evening was taken to its stirring climax with a note-perfect God Only Knows.

PLANET BARBARA

So, 2024 is off to a great start and things are about to get very exciting on Planet Barbara. The band are ecstatic at being chosen for the Paul Weller support slot and they can’t wait to get started. I do detect some slight trepidation in the ranks, of the “Will Paul Weller’s audience like us?” nature, but, from my own viewpoint, I can confidently predict that, come May of this year, there’ll be a host of newly-converted Barbarettes around, all clamouring for that debut album. Just you watch. And, if you can’t get a ticket for the Paul Weller tour or you can’t wait until April for your next dose of Barbara magic, you might be interested to know that Barbara will be playing at The Forge in London’s Camden on Friday 1st March and, what’s more, they’ll be supported by the psychedelically brilliant Alice Gold. What’s not to love?

Maybe, one day, in the not-too-distant future, being able to say “I saw Barbara at The Latest Music Bar in Brighton” will carry the same status as that conferred upon those rare souls able to prove that they saw The Beatles play at The Cavern, or that they were there when Springsteen played Meadowlands. It’s a dream, but you never know. And if it DOES come true, I’ll be proud to wear my “I Was There” badge.

Barbara and The Brighton Beach Boys: A Brighton Bonanza indeed. It was a very Brighton evening at The Latest Music Bar and a great time was had by all.

Enjoy the video to Master Narrative, the latest single from Barbara, here:

Barbara: Website / Facebook  / Twitter  / Instagram  / TikTok / YouTube

Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube