Music > Live Reviews

Ward Thomas

OPEN

08/10/16

There are still thirty minutes to go before Norwich Open is due to open its doors, but a sizeable queue has already formed. Not of excited teenagers desperate to surge front of stage for the latest cool band, but 'normal' everyday folk, a Radio 2 crowd if you like, grateful to have secured a ticket for tonight's sold out show by Ward Thomas.

We are guided into the smaller 275 capacity Club Bar, and there is an audible gasp from those expecting the Hampshire sisters with a Number One album under their belts to be playing the larger Banking Hall. The truth is, even though Ward Thomas were being tipped for breakthrough success when they played Norwich Arts Centre eighteen months ago, their career trajectory since the release of Cartwheels has caught even the promoters napping. This tour of the UK and Ireland that continues into November is still predominantly smaller venues. Only an appearance on November 1st at London's Royal Albert Hall for Children in Need takes them to anywhere near a large-scale auditorium.

We are consequently packed in like the proverbial sardines when support act Scarlet takes the stage. She is Scarlet Billham, a London based singer songwriter who graduated from the BRIT School in 2013, accompanied by Scott on acoustic guitar and backing vocals. Not exactly a country act – her voice is a lot more soulful than your typical Nashville. and watching her is akin to sitting in on a Live Lounge acoustic session with someone like Jess Glynne. Certainly a name to watch, and someone you could easily imagine working in the future with the likes of Rudimental or Disclosure.

Ward Thomas arrive and are joined on stage by a four piece band consisting of drums, keyboard, guitar and bass, leaving precious little room for the sisters themselves. Mere inches away from the front row of the audience they launch into a set that starts with, and proceeds to work its way through, almost every track from the Cartwheels album. The air conditioning has broken down, but we are all in this together, and no-one is going to let the temperature get in the way of a memorable evening.

The Good And The Right, from the debut album, is dedicated to Terry Wogan, who the sisters singularly credit as being responsible for their recent career success. Push For The Stride, another single off  From Where We Stand, gets a huge reaction but it is the new songs that dominate tonight's setlist. The vocal harmonies are absolutely spot on, and as we move through subjects not normally tackled in country music – cheating in relationships (Guilty Flowers), being dumped (Almost Easy), and even victims of rape (Safe), it becomes clear that Ward Thomas are far from a sugar-sweet duo with a neat line in sororitous banter.

There are no covers tonight – last time at Norwich Arts Centre they attempted Hozier's Take Me To The Church, did a lively version of Michael Jackson's Man In The Mirror, and ended with Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline. Scarlet had earlier tonight performed a version of Tim McGraw's When The Stars Go Blue, another Ward Thomas favourite, so for the encore we are given one last track from Cartwheels, Who I'm Not, before Catherine and Lizzy finish with the barnstormer that is A Town Called Ugley, the road-trip song named after a real village near Stansted in Essex. A great end to an evening that truly displayed just how far the girls' songwriting and performing has progressed since their last visit.

Next time around they will easily fill the Banking Hall at Open, and still leave disappointed fans desperate for tickets.