09 July 2006 (gig)
06 July 2006
From the moment I walked into St James Church and realised that no beer was on sale I thought I was going to be in for a long night. What happened next was truly spectacular as Ed Harcourt totally blew me away with his melodies and his beautiful.... beautiful... BEAUTIFUL music. The church was a bit oldey mouldy and just weird for a venue, but it was packed full of young enthusiastic Harcourt disciples who hung on his every word. One girl was on the balcony and bopping so hard, she nearly fell off! It was not unlike being at a real service except that ..well it was actually like being at a real church service a bit. Ed occasionally popped up from his secretly hidden piano which he disappeared behind, annoyingly, for most of the gig. He came up for air occasionally to chatter about stuff only his fans knew about and to play his little music box which didn't work. (Bummer). He stood there, silent for a while fiddling with his box which was quite eerie with it being in a church. Then he went back to his secret piano and the music flowed like wine and the atmosphere was very very cool. Ed and his full swinging band with Violins and a double bass player went down a treat.
Ed Harcourt is quite plain and simply, bloody talented and he knows how to write killer songs. He writes the songs that make you stop and wonder things as well as more importantly feel stuff. I left the gig wanting to find out more about his music and him..(he's not bad looking)!
The only thing is that I just kept on being distracted by the fact that I was in A CHURCH!...like whenever there was a pause in the gig..my attention was instantly turned to the stained glass window or to the smell of church smell which was a bit strange.
All in all, a joy to hear and a great human being watch!
