“It’s got to be-ee-ee-ee”…… pretty damn good actually; we catch Fairground Attraction live in Wolverhampton.
A BEVY OF HITS
Yes, you read that correctly, Fairground Attraction. The self-same Fairground Attraction who had a bevy of top singles and one hit album, before breaking up in apparent acrimony, getting on for 40 years ago. (36 actually.)The observant may also have noticed they recently put out a new album of new songs, this being the first night of the accompanying tour. Say what you like about biting the golden dollar, sometimes absence really does make more than just the heart grow fonder; this time the band are better too. (And, for accuracy, it was the golden yen in this case, the quartet “encouraged” by their diehard Japanese fanbase to reform.)
It’s been nearly as long since I visited the Wulfrun, the round the corner downstairs room for what is now grandly, if oddly, entitled University of Wolverhampton at The Halls, or Wolverhampton Civic in the old money. It used to be a marvellously tatty dancehall type room in the basement, of a decent size and all-standing. Now, money has been spent, and it is quite plush, with a fancy bar and lobby, posh loos and 800 seats. But, the walls and ceiling, and possibly the stage, remains possibly unhanged, that enough familiarity to hold on to with relish.
SCOTT WILLIAMS
Scott Matthews was on first. A local boy, I never know quite where or how to place him, he seeming a man out of time. With quite a large body of work behind him, since his 2006 debut, it seems much longer, his serious acoustic schtick always reeking of patchouli and Gauloises, not least in his delivery. His unashamedly melodramatic songs hail from a time longer distant. I can’t help but feel if he were, and sang in, French, it would suit him better. Not a put down, so maybe a less closed off Nick Drake, open more to his emotions, would be a better, and certainly kinder reference point. Still, received well, the 7 or 8 songs I caught were a decent aperitif for the main course.
FAIRGROUND ATTRACTION
The stage set for the full band, i.e. 4 core and the two stalwarts of the old live experience, all augured well. Prompt on 9, on they strode, looking both excited and comfortable at the same time. Professionalism, I guess it is called, and unsurprising, given the collective dues paid in the intervening years. With Mark E. Nevin in an expensive-looking sea-green suit, and matching hat, his image looked much unchanged, as indeed did he. Eddi Reader has likewise seemed little different, still that raggedy mane of orange hair, garbed in the style her voice always suggests, a mix of fortune teller and hippy waif, if now more of the former.
Roy Dodds and Simon Edwards were also suited, if in black, Dodds all but hidden behind his kit, and Edwards too toting a hat, seated so as to accommodate his bulky guitarron, the acoustic bass. You’d recognise neither away from the stage. Finally, stage left, Graham Henderson, sat on a chair, his red accordion strapped on for safety, and the splendidly bearded Roger Beaujolais, looking like a manic chemistry professor, as he strode about his array of instruments. The man with the magic mallets, he had a full size vibraphone, what sounded like marimbas and glockenspiel to play with.
BEAUTIFUL HAPPENING
Opening with one of the best songs on the new album, Beautiful Happening, only out a couple of weeks, 100 Years Of Heartache is a country tinged tearjerker, and a good idea, demonstrating they mean business. Leading into A Smile In A Whisper, a favourite from their 1986 debut, this was to be the pattern for the evening, the old and new juxta-imposed, side by side. A sort of spot the join, maybe, although it seemed, from the responses about me, most were already up to speed with the new stuff.
I can’t remember how much Beaujolais featured on the first album, he certainly present for their late 80’s show at Birmingham Odeon, but his mallets were all over this song, joyous pings of glockenspiel ramping up the atmosphere. But they weren’t entirely about replication, as a a short near dubby interlude became introduced into Hey Little Brother, another newie. And, with Henderson switching to harmonica for The Simple Truth, it was clear these two guys are as important a part the band as Nevin’s hat and Reader’s hair.
As the set progressed, so the band relaxed, the audience reception dissipating any first night nerves. Reader was becoming quite voluble, cracks about the length of time since and how wonderful it was to be back with the old team, all animosities buried. Apologies also if some of her trade-mark dog whistle higher register was cut short this night, HRT having been forgotten today. Having said, if this was her range reduced, blimey, given her sometime unbridled ascents to the heights……
By the time they got to Find My Love, their very first single, the whoops and the cheers near drowned the opening bars, leading to some show-bizzy banter about the key of the next song, false start and all. Unless, of course it was for real. Frankly, Reader gave the impression that it little mattered; give her a key, any key, and she’d sing it. And you’d believe she could and would. Maxing the tex-mex of the song, they gave it an extended stretch, Reader now on second guitar. Talking instruments, Henderson soon found a use for the mandolin strategically at his side, his parts for the skiffle of Learning To Swim, making the song stand out.
OLD & NEW
Continuing the theme of old and new, a highlight came with the timely and topical What’s Wrong With The World, even with the lyrical conceit it be Reader, but hey, it isn’t the socio-political diatribe the title might expect. Here, Reader had picked up the concertina on the table beside her, adding still further textures to the ensemble sound. But, before that, we were treated to the N’Awlins jive of Sun And Moon, which saw Dodds start the song, playing alone, a bar or two of drums and brushes, lest anyone forget his integral part in the cocktail. Edwards, too, found opportunity to be making his own equivalent case, with some well executed figures of his own. Even without the brass of the album original, this was classy stuff.
Mindful of the clock, and of where that song might be placed, there was some sense of drawing the set slowly down, as the ragtime of Clare became the slower Fairground Attraction, as in the song, the one with the line about “first of a 1000 kisses”. Reader here was on full Gypsy Rose Lee, and, yes, if she was now screeching for her very soul, most were willing to forgive. But, rather than the encore, it was there that the song came, prompted by a “sing with us“, from the singer. It’s far too ubiquitous by far, of course, a song Reader has carried into her solo career, her sets rarely not including it. Indeed, it is generally where I bid her my leave, but, you know, not tonight.
Was it perfect? Well, it felt so, even without Nevin’s usual sole excuse to plug in an electric for the guitar solo. (He played it fine on acoustic, by the way.) Closing song proper was the opener from the new album, which was enough, for me, to cement the feel that, of the two, this actually is the better record. And Beautiful Happening, therefore, their best track. Applause, bows and off.
APPLAUSE
More applause. Lots, and after a slightly longer gap than many might risk, back they trooped, asking if we minded three songs. As if. Lullaby For Irish Triplets really is a lullaby and was, sorry, perfect. Alleluia, for which there had been several shouts over the evening, likewise. So it was strange that it was with a new new song, at least new to the band, if less so to Nevin, and one that Reader insisted he sing: Fear Is The Enemy Of Love. As it may well be, but he is not the lead singer for a reason, it only dragged back by Reader joining in and trading lines. More fun for they than us, nonetheless it was a good way to seal the set for once and for all, nearly two hours and nearly all their songs. Welcome back!
Here’s the video for What’s Wrong With The World, concertina and all:
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