Music > Live Reviews

Richard Dawson

Norwich Arts Centre

19/12/17

That Richard Dawson has become commercially successful over recent years is one of the more pleasing anomalies of the current music scene. Not that his talents don’t deserve success, it’s just his music is so un-commercial, so challenging and out there that people like Richard normally play to a handful of people in the back room of a pub somewhere, right? Before Richard, though, I had the misfortune of having to watch Hugh Metcalfe. Hugh apparently has been doing his faux bumbling ‘improvisational’ act since the mid-70s, reciting nonsense stream of consciousness verse, whilst non-playing the guitar, violin, drums…whatever was to hand. I’d hate for people to think I didn’t ‘get’ Hugh, I totally got it, I understand completely the point of his act; he actively wants people to get annoyed by him, or feel uncomfortable, or convince themselves that they are enjoying him. I found him incredibly tiresome. What I did thoroughly enjoy though was having a genuinely satisfying debate with a friend of mine after the gig where he almost convinced me of Hugh’s genius. Almost, but of the approximately 150 live acts I’ve seen this year Hugh was comfortably the worst.

My journey to get to the point where I can call myself a fan of Richard Dawson hasn’t always been smooth sailing. From mild bafflement on first sighting on Marc Riley’s All Shook Up iPlayer show, to an increasing appreciation of his work, especially current album Peasant. Rightly lauded as one of this year’s best, it’s where his sound has fully coalesced perfectly. He makes music that sounds many hundreds of years old, with a twisted, unsettling quality that reminds me of Comus or, of course, the Wicker Man soundtrack. On one level Richard’s music sounds very simple, rudimentary even, but live he confirmed that he is an incredibly skilled singer, guitarist and band leader with a nice line in rambling between song chat. I was so pleased to see that he had five performers backing him – a bassist, violinist and best of all three female backing singers, allowing him to re-create the studio sound perfectly.

Sometimes he sang unaccompanied, or solo with guitar and that was when he showed just how detailed his songs are – lyrically smart and musically dense. Best of all though was when he brought songs such as Weaver or Ogre to life, -it was absolutely astonishing. The violin was vital to the sound and when the backing singers harmonised – it was a genuine 'wow' moment. Richard apologised for interrupting the momentum he’d built with his conversational way between songs, but he was warm and witty and clearly enjoying himself. Over the course of almost ninety minutes there was never a moment where I wasn’t fully wrapped up in the musical world he had created. He ended the night with the song I’m sure most of us wanted to hear, the sixteen minute dark odyssey that is The Vile Song.

I’m completely sold on Richard Dawson – I enjoyed hearing The Incredible String Band, Tom Waits, drone music, even the Polyphonic Spree in the musical soup, but most of all I enjoyed watching a unique performer who entertained us whilst being wholly original and without having compromised his musical vision one iota. A memorable night to end another year of brilliant live music.