I have never been to a venue like City Hall to see a gig before. Sat down, (albeit on a comfy seat) and expected to be a passive spectator without a hint that there should be any kind of crowd participation or movement is really not my cup of tea. Having said that, it’s perfect for the crowd assembled tonight, and with a mean age of around 40, I was pretty much the youngest person there.
Walking on stage looking dapper in all black, David Gray enters to an appreciative cheer from the audience. He stands alone, with his guitar and a spot light. Not opting for an elaborate and expensive set of lights and extravagant onstage props. Choosing instead to strip everything down to a bare minimum, he opens proceedings and tonight’s set with ’Shine’ probably one of his oldest songs. It really did live up to its name, his voice clear and crisp so you didn’t miss a single beautiful word, just giving us a taste of what was to come. Three tracks in and crowd favourite ‘Babylon’ begins as the backdrop of the stage turns into myriad tiny twinkling white lights. And during ‘Sail Away’ the music was so powerful and immense that it submerges you in a deep and layered ocean of sound.
One thing that struck me was Gray barely spoke to his audience. At times he would look glum and sing into the microphone like no one was watching and he was having a jam - not playing a gig. As I value interaction with the audience quite highly this did leave me a little cold, especially as there were so many guitar changes, and consequently time for potential interaction and general banter. I was hoping to hear a few anecdotes and a bit more of Gray’s dry sense of humour, but all we got were introductions to songs by their titles. He came across almost shy at times, and it was this that kept my rating at four instead of five out of five. Another thing I found bizarre was that someone with so much gig experience, who wrote the songs he is singing should need to count himself in again after an instrumental section to a song so he comes in at the right point. Someone who has been performing for years, you may expect to have mastered that skill already (or at least not to count out loud).
With a charming rendition of ‘Be Mine’ Gray chooses to amuse the crowd and change his infamous line from ‘Holy Cow’ to ‘Holy Gazelle’. Showing that he’s not afraid to poke fun at himself and take himself too seriously. Ending his main set with majestic ‘The Other Side’ saw a stage bathed in green light, Gray at his piano and a bass so deep it rumbled along the floorboards. Words simply couldn’t describe how good it sounded. It was utterly sublime and the stand out track by an absolute mile. You could shut your eyes and let lyrical waves literally wash over you. Hearing Gray breathing deeply into the microphone as he took a breath made it even more atmospheric.
David Gray is truly one of the best singer/songwriters around today. His voice distinctly his own, and a rare but brilliant talent of making the most ordinary and everyday of subjects into a perfect four minute pop nugget. ‘Late Night Radio’ and ‘Dead In The Water’ were notable absences from the set list, but when drawing from seven albums worth of material there is always going to be some tracks that have to be left out.
As this is the first night of a greatest hits tour it leaves you wondering if this is the beginning of the end for Gray, if it is, then it truly is a loss to the music world. But at least by the lucky people hear tonight he would leave by a standing ovation.
By Hollie Cartwright
