Post by Deamonic Angel on Jun 18, 2008 10:58:57 GMT
“This is for all you beautiful forest people”
It’s that time of year again: the confines of walls and roofs have become too much for artists to bear; festival season is just getting going, and promoters are looking for ever more innovative solutions to keep the party rolling. And so we have The Forest Tour. Now about five years old, this series of gigs across a number of (you guessed it) UK forests has previously been adorned by the likes of Ian Brown, Jools Holland, Pet Shop Boys and The Charlatans. This year sees Crowded House, Elbow and KT Tunstall join the fun, along with The Zutons - tonight bringing their effervescent pop / rock noise to Cheshire’s vast Delamere Forest.
‘Zuton Fever’ gets things going, its blend of trebly guitars, pummelled drums and blaring saxophone setting the tone before the band launch into ‘Don’t Ever Think’ and ‘Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love’. For these - and for much of the rest of the set - The Zutons are supplemented by Austin Murphy (of Edgar Jones’s band) on saxophone, which has the dual benefit of freeing Abi Harding up for backing vocals and more notably bolstering the band’s distinctive horn sound. ‘What’s Your Problem’ and ‘Bumbag’, from their recently released You Can Do Anything are warmly received but it’s as the sun fades over this idyllic setting that the country-tinged debut album offerings ‘Confusion' and ‘Remember Me’ really grab the crowd’s attention. The sight moves Dave McCabe to proclaim his audience “beautiful forest people” – something he goes on to do with annoying frequency throughout the rest of the night. Hard to know what’s going on here; from where Gigwise is standing the audience is largely hampered by pissed-up late-thirtysomethings sucking on wine boxes and doing mid-life-crisis dancing to an imagined early ‘90s Madchester soundtrack. He’s either oblivious, or perhaps The Zutons front man views this curious tribe of “beautiful forest people” more in the same way somebody like J.R.R. Tolkien might. Who knows?
‘Put A Little Aside’ is tucked in behind ‘It’s The Little Things’ ahead of the pulsing ‘Harder and Harder’ the band cleverly breaking up the newer material so as to let the more familiar songs absorb them. A clearly smitten McCabe then dedicates the next song, ‘Dirty Rat’ to a cute little be-spectacled girl wearing pink. Dedicating a song with the refrain “you’re just a dirty rat” to a minor, though, was never Dave’s best idea and realising his error he humbly apologises and coyly promises to make it up to her later. And so after a storming ‘Pressure Point’ the little girl gets her song, ‘Valerie’. Not that this wasn’t always a Zutons crowd-pleaser, its recent Winehouseification probably accounts for about twenty percent of tonight’s audience (no doubt the “beautiful forest people”) and so gets the crowd whipped to a climactic frenzy. She, the little girl, will be popular at school next week. Recent glam rock single ‘Always Right Behind You’ leads into the break before the band returns to encore with ‘Hello Conscience’ and a drawn-out and ecstatically received ‘You Will You Won’t’.
Most of the new songs played tonight are subtler and possibly lacking in colour when compared with some of the older material. Further there are some notable omissions; ‘Little Red Door’ from the new album would have been interesting, as would have ‘Tired of Hanging Around’ and ‘Oh Stacy (Look What You’ve Done)’ from the last. But all that said, three albums in, The Zutons now boast an impressive canon to choose from, and they know what works as a set. Rejuvenated by new blood Paul Molloy and the complimentary saxophone of Austin Murphy (if he’s sticking around?), The Zutons look set for a great summer playing the festivals.
See the full review at: www.gigwise.com/reviews/live/43945/the-zutonsdelamere-forest-cheshire
It’s that time of year again: the confines of walls and roofs have become too much for artists to bear; festival season is just getting going, and promoters are looking for ever more innovative solutions to keep the party rolling. And so we have The Forest Tour. Now about five years old, this series of gigs across a number of (you guessed it) UK forests has previously been adorned by the likes of Ian Brown, Jools Holland, Pet Shop Boys and The Charlatans. This year sees Crowded House, Elbow and KT Tunstall join the fun, along with The Zutons - tonight bringing their effervescent pop / rock noise to Cheshire’s vast Delamere Forest.
‘Zuton Fever’ gets things going, its blend of trebly guitars, pummelled drums and blaring saxophone setting the tone before the band launch into ‘Don’t Ever Think’ and ‘Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love’. For these - and for much of the rest of the set - The Zutons are supplemented by Austin Murphy (of Edgar Jones’s band) on saxophone, which has the dual benefit of freeing Abi Harding up for backing vocals and more notably bolstering the band’s distinctive horn sound. ‘What’s Your Problem’ and ‘Bumbag’, from their recently released You Can Do Anything are warmly received but it’s as the sun fades over this idyllic setting that the country-tinged debut album offerings ‘Confusion' and ‘Remember Me’ really grab the crowd’s attention. The sight moves Dave McCabe to proclaim his audience “beautiful forest people” – something he goes on to do with annoying frequency throughout the rest of the night. Hard to know what’s going on here; from where Gigwise is standing the audience is largely hampered by pissed-up late-thirtysomethings sucking on wine boxes and doing mid-life-crisis dancing to an imagined early ‘90s Madchester soundtrack. He’s either oblivious, or perhaps The Zutons front man views this curious tribe of “beautiful forest people” more in the same way somebody like J.R.R. Tolkien might. Who knows?
‘Put A Little Aside’ is tucked in behind ‘It’s The Little Things’ ahead of the pulsing ‘Harder and Harder’ the band cleverly breaking up the newer material so as to let the more familiar songs absorb them. A clearly smitten McCabe then dedicates the next song, ‘Dirty Rat’ to a cute little be-spectacled girl wearing pink. Dedicating a song with the refrain “you’re just a dirty rat” to a minor, though, was never Dave’s best idea and realising his error he humbly apologises and coyly promises to make it up to her later. And so after a storming ‘Pressure Point’ the little girl gets her song, ‘Valerie’. Not that this wasn’t always a Zutons crowd-pleaser, its recent Winehouseification probably accounts for about twenty percent of tonight’s audience (no doubt the “beautiful forest people”) and so gets the crowd whipped to a climactic frenzy. She, the little girl, will be popular at school next week. Recent glam rock single ‘Always Right Behind You’ leads into the break before the band returns to encore with ‘Hello Conscience’ and a drawn-out and ecstatically received ‘You Will You Won’t’.
Most of the new songs played tonight are subtler and possibly lacking in colour when compared with some of the older material. Further there are some notable omissions; ‘Little Red Door’ from the new album would have been interesting, as would have ‘Tired of Hanging Around’ and ‘Oh Stacy (Look What You’ve Done)’ from the last. But all that said, three albums in, The Zutons now boast an impressive canon to choose from, and they know what works as a set. Rejuvenated by new blood Paul Molloy and the complimentary saxophone of Austin Murphy (if he’s sticking around?), The Zutons look set for a great summer playing the festivals.
See the full review at: www.gigwise.com/reviews/live/43945/the-zutonsdelamere-forest-cheshire
