NIK KERSHAW & SEB WESSON

Good as it is to be questing for new sounds, new musical experiences, that doesn’t mean one can’t go back to enjoy older stuff. Nik Kershaw’s The Riddle was an important 7” for me in my formative years, so it is down to Epic for a bit of nostalgia. 

First up is SEB WESSON. A seasoned campaigner - solo, with the bands Munkster, Captain and Misdirectors, as well as sessions for the likes of Lemar - tonight Seb plays perfectly pleasant acoustic singer-songwriter fare. There’s a touch of a roughed up Chris Martin about his voice whilst visually he could be a smartened-up Newton Faulkner. There’s nothing ground-breaking but it is all enjoyable, taking in After The Goldrush-era Neil Young and the Springsteen of Nebraska or the Ghost of Tom Joad. I’d very much like to see Wesson in a smaller room with a more sympathetic, attentive, less damned chatty audience.  

The pre-gig blurb promised “a distinct lack of dance moves, lasers, pyrotechnics, Jazz hands or anything remotely to do with show-business” from “the small but perfectly formed NIK KERSHAW”. Well, the stage set up is fairly minimal. The big screens remain unused throughout the set but the lighting is up to Epic’s usual high standards. The backdrop screen displays a red logo and moving red stars on a black background and the mirror balls are put to good use, particularly towards end of set. 

Kershaw is in fine voice, if a semitone down on his heyday (although that may be down to the hundred day cough he is suffering from). There’s a distinct lack of flash in the playing, Kershaw and Adam Evans lay down some sterling riffing and swap nifty lead lines. Paul Geary’s playing is solid and never threatens to take over, something that isn’t always the case with bassists playing slap-style. Drummer Simon Lee is also solid but puts in some stylish fills. Phil Peskett gets the 80s-style synth sounds down without overwhelming everything else. 

Over the course of an hour and forty five minutes - or thereabouts - Nik and band play 21 songs, ranging from the hits to old deep-cuts and three tracks from most recent album Oxymoron. It is the hits that get the best reactions. Third song in Wide Boy gets the first singalong. With its almost Maiden or Lizzy style twin-lead solo intro, The Riddle brings another big reaction. Don Quixote warrants another big singalong. The most excited reception of the night is saved for Wouldn’t Ut Be Good, whilst biggest hit (and, for those of a certain age, smutty joke punchline) I Won’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me closes the main set with the biggest singalong. Closing the encore is an enjoyably heavy take on The One And Only, written by Kershaw but a hit for Chesney Hawkes. My highlights are Can’t Get Arrested and Bogart, the former recalling Marc Almond’s more cabaret/burlesque moments and the latter hitting the middle ground between 80s synth-pop and the poppier end of goth. 

Whilst the performance is more than entertaining, there is always a downside to “heritage” gigs: those ever-delightful people that are here for the hits, don’t wanna hear anything but the hits and make that clear by talking very LOUDLY over the rest of the set. It was a small portion of the audience but forced me to move on more than one occasion. Why, oh why, can’t these people give respect to the artists and consideration to other punters? Ah well, at least it wasn’t as bad as it would’ve been at the LCR or Waterfront...