Seth Lakeman in Manchester Again!
Seth Lakeman at the Manchester Academy 2
Sunday gigs, what is about them which makes them seem like even more rushed affairs than gigs on other nights? I don't know... Anyway, me and the better half got to the Academy later than we thought we would then had to endure the total incompetance of the box office and door staff as they tried to organise the ticket collection desk. It's the first time I've picked up tickets there on the gig night and I won't do it again. It's my own pissing fault, as I should have walked to the box office myself and picked up the tickets personally beforehand. Ah well, the benefit of hindsight and all that.
Support slots were by Benji Kirkpatrick and Ben's Brother, but we didn't bother with them, knocking them on the head to sit in the bar and relax with a drink and a chat. That was OK as we needed to sit back a while and enjoy actually having time to be out as a couple for a change. I've heard stuff by both of the acts beforehand anyway, so it's not like I was possibly missing something which I didn't already know about.
A trip to the merch table was definately in order though and the better half got another T-Shirt (one for each Seth gig now, she's getting obsessed :D ) and I picked up the second Sean Lakeman / Kathryn Roberts CD and a CD single of Seth's "The Bold Knight" which I didn't actually know existed. So that was £27 spent pretty quick...
We ambled into the gig and saw that it didn't seem as busy as last time. I don't think that this gig was promoted as well as the last one. There was also the fact that the venue of the gig had changed. The tickets told us that we should be at The Ritz that night, but thank god we weren't as I think it's a bit of a shitty venue from past experience.
We didn't go too near the front this time and elected to hang back and view it all a bit further out. This was OK, but the crowd further back seemed a bit lost and not too much into it. This sort of wierdness continued when the lights went down and the gig started at 9pm. It was clear that all was not well on stage, with at least two of the blokes not feeling too well, including Seth. You could hear in his voice that he was not well and there were some moments during the show that you could see that he was struggling. Not that the band let this effect the energy of the set dry up as such, but the fact that they cut the set short by 30 minutes and they played a few instrumentals towards the end was a clear indication that it wasn't happening for them.
All this said, the stuff they did play sounded fine. The new material that was being previewed from the new EP sounded great and I'm looking forward to getting my (pre-ordered) copies at the end of the month. "Lady of the Sea" and "King and Country" sounded smart and "Kitty Jay" was really effing fast, possibly the fasted I've heard him do yet. The sound was different again from the past gigs due to the addition of another percussionist on stage which gave the music even more drive and thankfully, didn't get too over-powered by the thumping and pounding. The addition of a proper drum-kit was interesting too. I wasn't sure if they should have had the full-on drums as I like the percussion approach from past gigs, but it all sounded fine, so I should shut up. :)
At about 10.05, the house lights went up and the "Smokey and the Bandit" music came on, which obviously signalled for us all to piss off home, so we bimbled out. We failed to get the Seth hat-trick by not seeing him outside for a "hello" and a photo. We weren't surprised though, as we assumed that he wouldn't be stood outside in the cold having a chat like on previous gig occasions. Maybe next time.
So, a gig of both rough and smooth. Good sound and interesting set with surprising energy, but dull crowd, ill band and short set. I think the fella needs a rest. He seems to have been on the go for years with little rest. I hope he doesn't burn out. A bit of a rest and time to finish the new album would probably be a good idea, so he can attack touring with a little more "oomph!" :D
Seth Movie
The video is in FLV format and should stream quite quickly to your computer. Excuse the distorted sound, the microphone on the camera isn't the best when recording high-volume noise. Please be patient if the video doesn't load immediately.
Site Accessibility
© 2006 Graham T. Ebbrell