This one was an impromptu and very
last minute happening; in fact I got a text during the morning from my gig
buddy Stu, asking if I fancied accompanying him to Bristol that very evening,
for an acoustic set and signing session by Jonathan Meiberg? I initially pushed
this one back, given that Meiberg’s band, brooding US alt-Americana nature
buffs Shearwater, had somewhat dropped off my radar since their nonetheless
fine 2016 effort “Jet Plane And Oxbow” and accompanying Fleece gig (no. 975);
however further research at the gym at lunchtime (i.e. listening to new album “The
New World”, the release of which tonight’s gig showcases) plus re-reading of my
gig blog (subsequently finding out I’d enjoyed that 2016 Shearwater gig more
than I remembered) persuaded me around. Enough sweeping melancholy on show, building
up to crashing crescendos (which I appreciate we wouldn’t get tonight, but
still…), to make me fancy a signed copy and an evening out with an old friend, then…
So I picked Stu up on a baking hot late afternoon (32 degrees!) for a happily air-conditioned drive down the M4. Just me and Stu, as wife Lorraine had baulked at the heat, deciding to pass on the gig rather than pass out at the gig! Caught up with the man – surprisingly our first gig together this year! – before parking up in Rupert Street and hitting the small “Listening Bar” at the back, where the gig was to take place (as opposed to the usual 200 capacity “live room”). Took a window seat halfway back as the place filled, some 2 dozen or so punters surprising Meiberg as he emerged around the corner at 7.15. “How quiet can we make it in here, because this [his voice] IS the PA!” he admitted on arrival, and sure enough, this became a rare event in my gig annals (joining Del Amitri at the Riflemans, gig 36, and very few others!); a set without any amplification whatsoever!
Happily, the audience was respectfully pin-drop silent, but this still meant that Meiberg’s soft, nuanced and regularly high-register tones and delicate, intricate strumming was still competing for attention with the sound of buses, seagulls (ironically enough) and general city hubbub coming through the (necessarily) open back door. Nonetheless, we listened as best we could from our halfway-back spot as the man wove his understated slow-burn, wallowing and doleful spell. An early “More And More” was mournful and melancholy, Meiberg’s dark, low and haunting vocal recalling Scott Walker for me; “Daydream Unbeliever”, next up, was similarly stark, but saw Meiberg cut loose a little more for the vocal hook (Meiberg stressing at its’ conclusion that the strings on record are, “absolutely not fucking synthesisers!”); and after a more upbeat oldie “Animal Life”, the undulating verse and backwoods American Gothic folk of “Slugs In The Marigolds” (a cornerstone of the new album) was followed by Meiberg assuring us, “the slug [in the video] was not harmed in any way – I just gave it a day out!” before praising its’ comic timing!
Unfortunately, thereafter the set got a little quieter from our seats, the external hubbub often drowning out Meiberg’s delicate delivery, but as ever we strained our lugholes to the max. A windswept and bleak “Snow Leopard” featured an impressively held high note to end; the audience joined in a later number with the quietest humalong in history; and a slow, smooth and reverential reading of The Velvet Underground’s late night bar room paean “New Age” closed out quite the quietest set of all of my gigging days!
A quick chat about Bowie (Meiberg being a huge fan) and pic with the man afterwards as he signed our CDs, before a run back, home at 9.15 and still in time to catch up on my Monday night TV quiz shows! Despite the hush, this was still an enjoyable evening, a good catch-up with Stu, and a promising new album to bring Shearwater back onto my gigging radar. However, I’d certainly hope next time will be a WHOLE LOT LOUDER!!!
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