the travelling band. live. part I.

who: the travelling band

when:  2 november 2011

where: academy 3, manchester, uk

support: jonnie common, louis barabbas & the bedlam six

we all know that waiting, in most cases, is rather annoying - completely different story with this gig. ever since i discovered the travelling band at the beginning of april this year, i wanted to see them live. thanks to festival season and quite a bit of moving around in two countries, a travelling band gig seemed to be so far away. as soon as i knew i´d be (finally) moving here, literally the first thing i did was buy a ticket to see them. from that point on, the waiting wasn´t annoying anymore, instead i was looking forward to the gig more and more with every day that passed. it is probably not even worth mentioning that my excitement reached its peak already a few days before the gig.

after seven months, wednesday night was finally here and jonnie common kicked off the night. another reviewer described his music once as “lo-fi electro-folk”. he´s got a beautiful voice and surely you could hear the electro and folk elements in his music. it´s just quite hard to win over an audience when they´ve never heard of you before (even though a lot of people obviously knew him), especially when it´s just you and your guitar on stage (perfect example: petula supporting stornoway in berlin and even johnny flynn (without his band) at the haldern pop festival this year) – a band and lots of instruments just leave you more impressed, but jonnie common seems well worth checking out after all.

main support act for this gig was louis barabbas & the bedlam six. their music was amazing and all seven of them are most certainly very talented musicians but nevertheless i couldn´t shake the feeling that they were a part of a tim burton film or possibly the rocky horror picture show. mixing elements of jazz, rock, folk and swing with theatre, cabaret and poetry, they delivered a stunning performance. theatrical lyrics showcased by male and female voices, their sound is absolutely unique and hard to find somewhere else – at least i don´t think i´ve ever heard anything like it before, but will make sure to keep an eye (and ear) on them.

around 9.30pm, two hours after the doors opened, the travelling band was finally coming on stage – or that´s at least what i thought. feeling absolutely sick because of the excitement by that point, the three minute or so intro sure didn´t help. however, the dark stage with occasionally one or two lights sure built the tension in the academy and i could basically feel everyone behind me smiling.

funny enough that itunes categorises the travelling band´s music as alternative, i think i´d like to disagree. it´s mostly folk mixed with several elements of rock (electric guitar), country (acoustic guitar) and even pop, but the basic line is folk without a doubt. originally from manchester, they used to be a six-piece folk band, now reduced to five members: nick vaal on drums, chris spencer on bass, jo dudderidge on acoustic guitar and keyboards, steve mullen on electric guitar and adam gorman on acoustic guitar, electric guitar and keyboards. it is easy to tell that they made a huge step forward with their second album. not only the sound changed a little ("under the pavement" was leaning a little more towards country, "screaming is something" more towards rock/pop - always building all songs around folk),  record number two seems better structured than the first one.

they opened their set with the title track of their second album “screaming is something” – a good choice, simply because it´s a great track for an easy and relaxed sing-along. working their way through a mix of their debut album “under the pavement” (which was released in 2008) and the new record, they played a wonderful 13 song set including a 2 song encore. the classics like “only waiting” or “horizon me and you” were just as impressive as the new song “borrowed and blue”. highlights for me were the new single “sundial” and “weary beaten road” which was apparently written for the second album but didn´t make the cut in the end (so it hasn´t been officially released anywhere). the song of the night for me was "magnetic anywhere" though. this used to be my least favourite on the new album but what they did with this song last night totally blew my mind, absolutely stunning. they finished their set with the closing track of “under the pavement” – “sweet city”, one of the best songs on their debut.

beautiful two and three part harmonies, gorgeous lyrics, well-structured compositions and an unmistakable sound define the travelling band´s music which is live even a million times better than on record and highly recommended.

setlist

screaming is something

horizon me and you

lanes of names

only waiting

fairweather friends

one dime blues

borrowed and blue

weary beaten road

battlescars

sundial

on the rails

encore

magnetic anywhere

sweet city

adam gorman & jo dudderidge

 steve mullen

 chris spencer

 jo dudderidge

 adam gorman

the travelling band is still on the road for a few more shows on their biggest tour to date, playing at the borderline in london tonight and at erics in liverpool tomorrow. visit their website for dates and ticket links. you don´t want to miss this! 

the travelling band. live. part II. -> 5 november 2011, telford´s warehouse, chester

the travelling band. live. part III. -> 7 december 2011, the met, bury