Richard Hawley

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:58 am 
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two things - even though RH dismisses it, for music industry purposes alone I hope he is recognised tonight.
second - I like the set with "something is" in it - just adds a bit to the recognition of pre-Coles material. God knows what makes way - no feckin idea


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:12 am 
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Thought RH and the band were amazing. I really liked the harder edged guitars on tracks like The Ocean.

I found it really odd from other gigs I go to because the age group was quite old, everybody sat down, you could hire binoculars and you could hear a pin drop between songs. Good job RH was on good form with the between song banter.

Highlights were Something is, The Sea Calls and The Ocean, even though there wasn't a weak track all night.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:40 am 
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My first time at Buxton, nice venue, great for a Hawley gig. Although the crowd was a bit flat.
I have seen Richard many times now and this didnt dissapoint.

H was on stage until 11.15 ish - interesting journey back to Sheffield - Fog

Highlights for me
Oh my Love
Solitude
Ocean guitar work
Beaux Nidle aka Clive - Awesome Once again
Victoria - aka Daughter of Frank - impressed with her
Villans - should do well
Banter - what was the bloke on the balcony on about - when the Lonesome Town story was about to be told?


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:28 pm 
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Twas indeed a top night, but I'll tell you something about the front row of the Opera House - it's bloody freezing!

We were front row, dead centre (well, just left of centre), bang smack in front of the boss, and there was a draught blowing throughout. Brrr!

Sadly, it didn't prevent me from yawning my head off either (my excuse is that I'd been on the go since 5.30am - nothing to do with the music).

Despite being on the chilly side, it's a great venue, a perfect setting for Richard's music. A very attentive audience too, didn't hear any mid-song chatter.

The supports were both good, Vincent Vincent especially. A true star in the making there. I'd only heard a few songs before. The only way I've been able to describe them so far is a skiffle-rockabilly Orange Juice with a bit of Dexy's and early (good) Adam & The Ants. Great stuff.

Highlight for me was probably Clive's cameo and watching Dean - he's a show all by himself! I'd forgotten that it was the last show of the tour, so there were lots of thanks to crew and band (the very warm Colin Eliot :wink: ). Richard was even looking a bit emotional at the end (overwhelmed? relieved? knackered?).

Hope everyone got home OK, the fog was attrocious!

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:37 pm 
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simong wrote:
Richard was even looking a bit emotional at the end (overwhelmed? relieved? knackered?).



Yep I thought that also, especially during and after The Ocean.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 6:14 pm 
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I have now written a review of last night but it's very long, so I'm not going to post it on the forum. I have posted it as my latest blog on my myspace page for anybody who might be interested. It is very long though, so I don't blame you if you can't be arsed.

www.myspace.com/takemeanywhere36


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:06 pm 
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always a good challenge that !
anyway when I went on I coudn't access it - I don't really get involved with this type of site - is there any way I can read it without becoming involved and parting with my email address etc ?


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:09 pm 
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It can be posted on here, no worries about the length of it.

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:17 pm 
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It's a great review and really captures the evening well. I didn't think it was too long at all so there's no need to apologise for it at all.

Thanks for doing it as my main memories of the evening are the horrendous drive there and the nearly equally scary drive back. I'm sure over time the memories of the music will outstay those of the fog, frost and ice.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:37 pm 
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simong wrote:

We were front row, dead centre (well, just left of centre), bang smack in front of the boss, and there was a draught blowing throughout. Brrr!



I think that means that we were sat directly behind you...

Lovely venue - I especially liked the fact that the staff seemed almost overwhelmed by the (actually quite aged and well-behaved) audience. Our tickets weren't checked at any point, just wandered in and took our seats :D And ice cream for sale!

I enjoyed the show much more than the last one I saw at the Bridgewater Hall - there the band looked a little lost on the stage, whereas last night felt much more intimate: you could hear the muted guitars being tuned and even smell the pre-encore fags when Richard came back onstage...

I think it was a measure of last night's gig that I ended up really enjoying a lot of the Lady's Bridge material that I really hadn't 'got' previously. Our Darkness was a particular highlight - when the white lights came on during the instrumental passage, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end. Or maybe the guy behind me just dropped his ice-cream down my back.

Speaking of the lights, I thought they were fantastic throughout. During the encore, when half the stage was in blue, Clive was under a spotlight and Richard was sat on the drum riser, I was praying someone would take a photo and capture it.

A great, great gig and one I feel very fortunate to have attended. It really did feel like you were watching the best band in the world having a bloody good time onstage.

The only one (minor) thing I will say is that I really miss Run For Me as the set closer - with that huge long droney intro. That was ace.

But that's a very minor consdieration after close to two hours of bliss... And I wouldn't be too bothered about a flat or muted crowd - it's hard to be a-whooping and a-hollerin when you're spellbound.


Last edited by john_quays on Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:07 pm 
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OK, you asked for it. Ta for the comments from those who have already read it.

Richard Hawley - Buxton Opera House 19 February 2008

In a couple of years, when every music magazine and internet site are announcing their 'best of the decade' lists, it will be interesting to see where Richard Hawley fits in. Certainly, his star has never been brighter, with a Brit nomination and a forthcoming concert in the expansive setting of the Royal Albert Hall, no less. Indeed, the live following has grown with the release of each new album since 2001's Late Night Final and the next long player would surely see him filling Roman amphitheatres, if such venues remained without decay. However, you get the feeling that the grounded Hawley would be none too impressed by such grand plans. He appears to be of a different era, when life was simpler and a bottle of Henderson’s Relish made a more than adequate Christmas present for a loved one.

It is perhaps fitting that Hawley brings his latest jaunt around the UK and Ireland to a close in Buxton, a town that also seems to have been suspended in a bygone age. Tonight’s venue lies just 35 miles from Hawley’s beloved Sheffield and there are clearly plenty of friends and family in the audience tonight. This gives the night a relaxed, end of term feel, not that the music suffers. The set is dominated by the last two albums, 2005's Mercury Music Prize nominated Coles Corner and last year's Lady's Bridge. Opening with recent single Valentine, the mood is quickly set and it is clearly going to be a memorable night. Keyboard player John Trier takes the spotlight for Roll River Roll, a song written about the Sheffield floods of 1864, merely months before the same city was last flooded in 2007.

Hawley introduces Just Like The Rain as “one I wrote when I was sixteen” and it is clear that he must have had an ear for a fine melody and an aching lyric from a very early age. He is also never short of something to say between songs but whatever he does say is delivered in a self-deprecating manner, befitting of somebody who is completely content with his life. The announcement that the video for Coles Corner was filmed outside tonight’s venue is delivered without any air of schmaltz and the song itself is simply breathtaking tonight. Lady's Bridge is dominated by a combination of Shez Sheridan’s lap steel guitar and Hawley’s gorgeous lament. The entire audience is transported down to the river before being brought back to the room, a Hotel Room to be precise. It’s actually a song about addiction but could easily be taken as an out and out love song. Certainly, many people in the room tonight take it as such as hands are held and loving looks are exchanged.

We are treated to some Rockabilly in the form of Serious (and later with I’m Looking For Someone To Find Me) but the centrepiece of the set comes, fittingly, exactly halfway through. Lady Solitude is the one song that receives no introduction from Hawley, although the guitar intro more than makes up for that. Has there ever been a more heartbreaking line than “think this morning will see us say our last goodbyes”? A reverential hush descends over the auditorium and you know that you are witnessing something truly magical. We get a yearning number written for Hawley’s wife (Our Darkness) and a song about regularly getting drunk (Born Under A Bad Sign) before we are finally treated to a tune from Late Night Final. It is to be hoped that Hawley’s more recent success will see more people checking out his earlier work. There are real diamonds to be found there, none more so than Something Is, which, in a stunning venue, simply stuns. The aforementioned rockabilly romp brings the main set to a frenetic close and rapturous applause from an appreciative audience.

Hawley returns sans band and introduces Manchester harmonica player Clive Mellor onto the stage for a stripped down cover of the Ricky Nelson song Lonesome Town. The band return and Mellor remains for Hank Williams’ I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, which has become a real live favourite and demonstrates yet again just how good the band are. Mellor departs with the acclaim ringing in his ears but we’re not done just yet. Oh My Love has been returned to the set on this tour and it is to be hoped that other songs from the Lowedges album are reprised in the future. Hawley’s voice is starting to strain by the perennial closer, The Ocean but he makes it through. The band gets the chance to really rock out and it makes the perfect closer to a perfect night.

So, will Richard Hawley end up as a best of the ‘noughties’ then? Maybe so, certainly if there’s any justice in the world. But you get the feeling that the man himself would have been happier to have been considered a contemporary of a different time, some fifty or so years ago.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:26 pm 
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Excellent stuff!
I'm going to cut n paste it to a word doc and keep it beside the 'Hawley Special'
hope you don't mind.
will be a great reminder of a fantastic gig in times to come
[even though mine were in Hull and York]
:thumright:

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:30 pm 
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That's a lovely review! :D 8)


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:38 pm 
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ronp wrote:
Excellent stuff!
I'm going to cut n paste it to a word doc and keep it beside the 'Hawley Special'
hope you don't mind.
will be a great reminder of a fantastic gig in times to come
[even though mine were in Hull and York]
:thumright:


Don't mind at all but what's the Hawley Special?


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:14 pm 
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it's the newspaper type programme of the 2008 Uk tour for sale at the gigs.

just let mrs ronp read it, and she loves it, but still a little miffed at not hearing '"I'm so Lonesome...." with Clive...due to a curfew at York.
Denise did send a download though ... so it's only a matter of time!

keep up the good work.

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