1,337 LONELY TOURIST, Chris Webb, Swindon The Tuppenny, Thursday 18th July 2024

 

The first of a planned two-in-two weeks availing myself of the oft-eclectic choice of The Tuppenny’s “Thursday Night Music Club”, this, in the company of Bristol-domiciled expat Scotsman Lonely Tourist! Our claymores had first crossed in 2014, with a couple of entertaining support slots to the ubiquitous Gaz Brookfield (gigs 904 and 925), the erstwhile Mr. Paul Tierney delivering a slight flip on the folky punky singer songwriter template, with some wry melodic indie-tinged acoustica, relaxed urbane banter, and slightly offbeat lyrical subject matter (flies and namesake footballers coming to mind). To my shame, our paths had not crossed for nearly a decade, Lonely Tourist in the process changing from a “he” to a “they”; no, not a declaration of non-binary status, but an addition of fellow Bristolian songsmith Chris Webb to the line-up as a luxury wingman. Time to catch up on the LT two-piece up the Tupp then!

Drove up the hill with Logan and parked up behind the Hop, greeting the likes of Gaz, Ben Sydes and of course our performers for this evening. Grabbed a drink and a watching brief to the side of the stage, house left as Chris Webb kicked off a solo support spot, introducing himself as, “half of Lonely Tourist!” “Singing To The Sea” was a pacey little opener with an undulating, almost flamenco feel, underpinned by Chris’ usual understated, relaxed delivery juxtaposed with some furiously fast and intricate, almost virtuoso guitar plucking. “The Heat Is On” (no, not that one…!) featured a pacey stream of consciousness vocal delivery – a lot of words to pack in for this one, but I’m fine with that! – and Chris then regaled us with a story about his temporary ill-fitting tooth (!) before his next, jolly number was interrupted firstly by the man forgetting the words, then by a passing ambulance! Nonetheless, composure was maintained, and a fine little vignette was concluded by “Hallowed Floor”, a moodier number with an almost Doors Whisky a Go Go vibe. Nice start!

Had a drink and a chat with old mate Andy Lobb before the Lonely Tourist 2-piece took the stage, Webb backing up main man Mr. Tierney. Opener “Shoulder” was a taut, pacey strumalong with a somewhat windswept Celtic feel, before Paul advised us, “the last time I was in Swindon I was thrown out of The Glue Pot!” The subsequent “Tom And The Library” featured a fun lyric about pop star auto/ biographies, including a diss for Morrissey’s rather bitter and chewy tome; “Four Phone Calls” had a distinct Teenage Fanclub/ Byrds-ian mellow and Summery melodic vibe, with some splendid 2 part harmonies from the boys; and a well observed cover of Aztec Camera’s 80’s sparkly chart botherer “Somewhere In My Heart” nevertheless had me singing along to the smooth pop hook. I also really enjoyed the (possibly unintentionally) funny “Dead Man’s Stapler”, the Tuppenny collective joining in on the hook and prompting Paul to remark, “this pub likes a grim singalong!” 

Newie “Very Bones” was another mellow Teenage Fanclub hazy singalong, Paul then declaiming, “people keep asking for Proclaimers and Travis; I’m being racially profiled!” Oops, hope that’s not what I’m doing by comparing some of LT’s lazy Summery melodies to Bellshill’s finest! Hey ho… “Watch Out For The Sharks” was a workaday story of gigging folk (Lonely Tourist’s answer to Raze*Rebuild’s “Face For Radio” maybe), then an entertaining, relaxed near-hour was brought to a close with the inevitable “Ballad Of Paul Tierney”, a workaday story of lower division footballing folk (!).

Ed twisted the boys’ arms for an encore, a faithful rendition of The Dubliners’ “The Leaving Of Liverpool” the folkiest thing on the menu tonight, and I then enjoyed a brief chat with Paul, lamenting my lack of familiarity with tonight’s nonetheless entertaining material due to the 10 year gig gap, but picking up a couple of CDs from him to hopefully make up for it. Farewells with all and sundry before Logan and I hit the road for a quick trundle down the hill and home. Good night out, this, so I’m determined not to leave it another 10 years before catching Lonely Tourist again!

1,194 CHRIS WEBB, Swindon The Tuppenny, Thursday 21st October 2021

 

This one was a bit of a welcome late call; off for October half term but with Covid travel restrictions (and our kids’ passports elapsing!), not off somewhere hot lying on a sunbed, we’d nonetheless planned for a day out today. However, general apathy and disorganisation precluded against that as well (!), opening up the opportunity to catch a “live” set from Bristolian “modern folk” act Chris Webb, whom we know better as one of “live” favourite Gaz Brookfield’s cohorts in his Company Of Thieves band. Having seen him at this very venue a couple of years back (gig 1,152), I knew a good time was guaranteed, and happily “Tupp” landlady Linda made good on a long-standing promise to allow Logan in to attend too!

 So, after a boys afternoon out at the cinema to see sprawling Sci-fi epic “Dune”, a boys night out started with me needing to scrounge a couple of quid off my son for parking (!) after a drive up the hill, then into the Tuppenny to be greeted by promoter Ed Dyer for a movie chat (not music for once – how multi-faceted we are!), then grab drinks and a table at the front, ironically right in front of Chris’ occasional bandleader Gaz, plus Mrs. B and his lovely beagle Reuben, out for a Brookfield family night out in Swindon!

 A quick greeting with Chris before he took the window stage at 8.30 for the first of his 2 sets, opening with a hazy, pastoral English folky number, ironically about the recent lockdown! Then, after a groovier toe-tapper “Check Mate” and before the splendidly upbeat and strident chorus hook-led “Breakfast”, Chris regaled us with a story of getting lost in the Lake District and needing to get rescued after a night out in the wilds!

 This set the tone for the whole evening; a relaxed, entertaining performance from the affable Chris, plying his trade of usually upbeat, 4/4 time, folk numbers, picking out little vignettes of everyday life, elevating them with the strength of his arrangements and complex, intricate fretwork, and playing them with easy calm. Lacking the strident shout-along choruses and overt energy of his “boss” Gaz, Chris instead relies on his understated charm and bonhomie “live”, which worked perfectly in front of tonight’s audience of friends and fans. Newie “Clown For Sale” saw Chris ask collaborator Gaz if he’d brought along a harmonica, “in the key of “C”?” (he hadn’t – shame!); a later, almost Love-like Spanish guitar riff-led number saw him miss a line, which prompted Ed (down the front with us) to retort, “something you know!” when Chris subsequently asked for requests; and the pastoral Laurel Canyon 70’s psych-folk of John Martyn’s “May You Never” rounded off set one very nicely, thank you.

 A short break for drinks and a bag of pork scratchings for Logan (in lieu of the kebab he wanted to go for afterwards – that doesn’t happen every gig, mate!), then Chris was back “on it” with a more buoyant and animated “Man from The Moon”, which got Reuben animated too, Gaz’ beagle barking along to this “beagle-friendly” number! A few more barks in the second number however prompted a departure of The Brookfields (Reuben clearly having reached his limit for the night), which itself prompted Chris and Ed to trade beagle puns, Chris then commenting, “I hope no-one’s reviewing this shit!” then noticing me taking notes down the front. Oops! A subsequent “We Always Loved The Mad Ones”, with it’s shifting change of pace, was probably my set highlight, although another cover of Squeeze’s New Wave classic “Up The Junction” and the subsequent debate about the song’s protagonist’s wife’s “30 minute” labour (really??) ran it close. A properly frisky “Let’s Crash A Ceilidh” and the undulating wordplay of “Heat” preceded “one final pandemic number,” a more plaintive “Empty Living Room” before Chris announced his recent fatherhood, so clearly lockdown wasn’t all that bad! A cover of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” (for Ed) rounded off the second set, punctuated by an encore and a quick whip round by Linda, both Logan and myself happily chucking cash in as suitable recompense for being right royally entertained tonight.

 A quick departure afterwards – ok it’s not a school night but it’s still late for my little man! – and home just before 11. A welcome late call indeed!

1,152 CHRIS WEBB, Swindon The Tuppenny, Thursday 12th September 2019

The acoustic start to my 2019 “Autumn Dance Card” continues with my impromptu attendance at a solo performance by a man I’m more familiar with as part of Gaz Brookfield’s Company Of Thieves… unlike fellow Company man (that’s better than saying “fellow Thief”, right?) Nick Parker, I’d not been privy to Chris Webb’s solo outings, apart from his slot opening for Gaz at the famous “Logan onstage” Southampton gig last February (gig 1,073), a gig where he also helped Logan during his onstage antics, sharing his mic with my son during “Diabete’s Blues”. Been meaning to see him “live” since, just not had the chance (T’uh, excuses, excuses)… This one also seemed a little dicey, given that I was working through a laundry list of jobs in preparation for a family weekend in Brixham supporting my crazy wifey while she swam the Dart 10K Event, but luckily I manages to squeeze in a couple of hours to pop “Up the Tupp”…

Arrived just before 8.30, literally minutes before the man was due onstage, so had time to grab a drink, exchange pleasantries with Dave Franklin, then take a pew near the front for Chris’ performance in front of a score of keen local folk/acoustica fans and curious Thursday night punters. A gently meandering, mostly instrumental opener eased us in gently, then Chris commented on his having been compared vocally to Squeeze’s Glen Tilbrook (hmmm, don’t see that myself), which at least provided an excuse for an early and rather splendid cover of Squeeze’s joyously wordy “Up The Junction”. Great stuff!

“Wordy” in fact was probably a suitable summary for Chris’ performance tonight, albeit in the best possible way… Chatty, urbane and relaxed throughout, he told stories of other alleged comparisons as lead-ins to well-chosen covers (John Martin and Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon, apparently), deftly avoided falling into the trap of telling Gaz stories to the Swindon audience, yet praised us as a “lovely” crowd and “Home from home – unlike Aylesbury, that was awful!”. His own material was generally less immediate and more complex than either of his Company bandmates, often requiring either some motormouth gabbling to fit all the words in (viz. the splendid “Heat”), or some seriously intricate finger-picking to cram all the notes in! Works for me, I’ve always been a fan of songs which have more verbiage than they can comfortably hold – The Hold Steady and early Del Amitri (a fairly valid comparison for Chris tonight) being enduring faves of mine…!

A 2-set showing with a break, this, with “Breakfast” opening the second set, Chris suggesting we check Youtube to, “find the video [for this] and watch me dance around like a twat!” “Bittersweet” (introduced as, “an arsey song,” which Chris wrote after a bad trip to Glasgow) featured a packed and undulating harmony line, “Parade” was more wistful and pastoral, oldie “Singing To The Sea” was almost Spanish-guitar influenced, and “Let’s Crash A Ceilidh” racier and the most Gaz-like of his offerings. But my favourite of the set was the upbeat and insistent melody of the closing “Compass”, which was preceded by Chris giving us a flash of his new “compass” gig socks!

So, overall a very entertaining way to spend a Thursday evening, and a prompter for me to check out Chris “live” more often (maybe after the new album – being mastered soon! – drops). As for comparisons? Well, Tilbrook, Martin, Hannon… you know what, with his dextrous guitar work, complex yet melodic material and laconic, laid-back yet chatty and voluble delivery, when I listen to Chris Webb I just hear… Chris Webb!

1,073 GAZ BROOKFIELD AND THE COMPANY OF THIEVES, Nick Parker, Chris Webb, Southampton Talking Heads, Friday 23rd February 2018

Above pic courtesy of Kit Bliss. Thanks Kit!

Another trip down to Southampton that Logan’s not likely to forget in a hurry…!

First 2018 gig for me in the company of Gaz Brookfield, the ‘Don’s very own folk/punk in-your-face traveling troubadour and old school balladeer; yes I know he lives in Bristol these days but us Swindonians are still claiming him as our own! Having missed his “Christmas works do” as he refers to his annual sold-out Bristol December date, due to it both clashing with the “12 Bands Of Christmas” and, more pertinently, being moved up to the 14+ (and now sadly closed) Bierkeller, thus preventing me from taking Gaz uber-fan Logan along, I was keen to book tix for this, his February weekend full band tour. Southampton was the closest port of call, and e-mail correspondence with the venue confirmed Logan was good to come along, so tix were duly snapped up for my 4th full band Gaz date in the last 5, and my 19^th overall. It’s starting to get up to Seafood-level numbers, this...!

Rach was out too, so Grandma babysat Kasey, and me and Logan packed emergency layers for a chilly drive South on the A34 to Talking Heads, this cool new (for me at least) venue just around from the Guildhall, scene of Logan’s onstage Bowling For Soup shenanigans 2 years ago (gig 974). A diversion around Southampton and a slight parking-mare delayed us, so we hit the venue at 10 to 8 for a quick chat with Gaz on the Merch stand about Logan’s recent diabetes diagnosis, and his current Swim22 sponsored event, Gaz donating £20 on the spot. Chap! Then we checked out the opening act – neatly enough, both support acts were actually members of Gaz’s backing band The Company Of Thieves! So first up, we had Chris Webb, whose solo material I was unfamiliar with prior to this, but whom I enjoyed immensely; quite the paciest and most overtly upbeat of any acoustic performer I’ve recently checked out, his material was often groovy, full-throttle and replete with an over-abundance of lyrics, in a Hold Steady or 1^st Del Amitri album kind of way. Fine by me, I’ve always preferred cutting a short story long…! He greeted Logan, sat cross-legged on the floor, with, “we’ve met before, right?” Correct, at All Roads Lead To Frome, gig 1,036 last May; good memory Chris! “Let’s Crash A Ceilidh” was an early highlight, and the motormouth Chris (often packing as much verbiage into his between-song banter as into his songs!) joked about getting the subsequent “Heat” right about 90% of the time – no surprise as his delivery of this number called to mind Stipe’s garbled vocals on REM’s “It’s The End Of The World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”! “Compass”’ melodic 90’s indie feel capped a fine set from a Gent whose material I’ll certainly get to know better…!

We know all about Nick Parker, however; next up, accompanied by fiddling maestro Benny Wain, he entertained with his laconic, laid back earworm tunes and detailed observational lyrics, his best material as ever reflecting and celebrating the minutiae and mundanity of everyday life, evidenced by splendid opener “Departures”, his ode to a few hours kicking around an airport departure lounge. The knockabout satire of “Down With The Yoof” entertained, then Nick handed out lyric sheets for the audience to sing along to “I Guess I’ll Never Know”, his friend Anna joining him onstage for this touching little ballad. For a brilliantly jaunty “Es Tut Mir Leid”, however, he invited Logan onstage to hold up one of the German phrase signs; as no-one else joined him Logan was tasked with holding all 4 up himself! “Terry And June” rounded off another splendid set from this self-effacing but very wryly talented songsmith.

By now the place was well packed – probably an on-the-door sellout, this! – and Gaz led the thieves onstage at 9.30 for a galloping “World Spins Round” opener, before he incredulously announced, “Southampton! There’s bloody loads of you!”, segueing into “March Of Progress”. Then, before the scheduled and entirely appropriate “Diabetes Blues” he invited Logan onstage, not only telling the audience his diabetes diagnosis story (to a collective, “aaaah”, Gaz replying with, “alright, it’s not a panto!”), but exhorting them to sponsor his Swim22 event! Brilliant! Then, if that wasn’t enough, Nick threw his spare mandolin over Logan’s shoulder, and my son strummed along onstage to “Diabetes Blues”, also duetting on backing vocals with Chris Webb. Another proud dad moment!

Apart from that, the rest of the gig was bloody nails too – “Gunner Haines” sounded immense and fulsome, “Under The Table” was a drunken, all-inclusive swayalong (Gaz remarking, “I’m glad to see everyone wore their singing pants tonight!”), and the band played a quick round of “Grapes”, which involved attempts to catch a grape thrown across the stage in one’s mouth (Nick proving the most successful in this endeavour), before “The Buskers Song”. This number actually saw an amount of money tossed onstage by the crowd, which Gaz immediately donated to Logan’s sponsorship fund! Double Chap!

Gaz rolled out his new toy, a black bodied electric Fender, giving his battered acoustic a rest and lending the likes of a punk rock “I’ve Paid My Money” and a venomous “Black Dog Day” extra strident power. “Diet Of Banality” was a welcome retro delight, skewering manufactured music pointedly and perfectly with the excellent lyric; “let your children hear something real”… oh, I do, Gaz, I do! “Thin” raised the roof and ended the set, but a brilliant “Be The Bigger Man” and rattling, rambunctious “Let The East Winds Blow” closed out the evening, Gaz and the band having sounded brilliantly together throughout, and having put buckets of sweat and effort into delivering a stellar, committed performance.

And true to Gaz’ request, a number of people approached me afterwards with donations for Logan’s Swim22 event! Overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers, I happily collected names and cash, amassing an impressive £87 in total from the night. Wow. Just… wow. Thank you so much, all! Chats and profuse thanks to Gaz and co later, I scooped a tired but elated little man up and we finally hit the road, a diversion around the A4 getting us home at half past midnight. No matter, Saturday’s a lie-in…! What a performance from Gaz and the boys, what an incredible evening!