Richard Hawley@ UEA
A nice time was had by all
Support for tonight comes from Mary Waterson. We receive the benefit of her classic Waterson Carthy dynasty vocals, with a brave, standing quietly at the front singing approach. She has a large crowd to sing to, but it’s not feeling like the crowd are responding to her earthy folk charms. Her last song was the most interesting for me as it had some unusual sound effects and a more Beth Orton vibe which I hadn’t seen coming. Not sure it warmed anyone up as much as killed some time, which is a shame given her talent.
Richard Hawley has come some way since I last saw him, playing in the Longpigs in 1995, releasing seven studio albums to Mercury nominated acclaim. He kicks off with Which Way, a darkly rocking way to open, perfect voice and guitar sound, even whacking a solo in. Tonight, The Streets Are Ours followed, a lovely sixties style pop tune delivered in a polished way. Track three is a booming bass heavy Standing At The Sky’s Edge and we’re confronted with tales of wife killing. By the sixth tune his stall is laid out, a wide selection of styles that move easily between almost gothic to country, rock to lullabyesque. Leave Your Body Behind is my highlight psychedelic and trippy with swirling pedal effects.
People cheer and clap as he jokes between the tunes about his wife being brought up in a village near Diss; his patter is often expletive filled and funny, mocking those cheering the name of his wife’s village with ”there’s only two fookin donkeys and three fookin pigs there so you sure as fuck don’t all live there”.
The amount of guitar solos thrown into tunes is eyewatering, every song punctuated with the neck of yet another guitar being tenderly throttled. The guitar roadie never stops, every song sees him surreptitiously slipping onto centre stage and cloaking Richard in a new Gretsch or Les Paul. Richards voice, when delivering the romantic and tender I Still Want You, is where we see the best of his delivery, as rockier tunes can lose his vocals in a mix that’s otherwise flawless.
Asking the audience “Do you know Magdalen Street?”, a wag shouted back, “It’s a shithole”, Hawley is not having that. “You’re an arsehole!” he shouts back, talking about how he loves Out Of Time, the tiny record shop that is a fixture of this part of town.
He introduces What Love Means with “I wrote this when my daughter left home”, beautiful song though it is, it resonates with parents not kids about to leave for uni. One lyric in this actually chokes me up, but I am 46 with a teenage daughter. He jokes about a single woman entering The Mosh Pit, claiming the first time it had ever happened at one of his gigs, seems legit. I do like a bit of chaos at a gig and this is a missing component, but that’s me. The majority of the audience sway, dance and greet the songs like old friends. The quality of the musicianship is exemplary. Every note spot on, apart from a couple of vocal mishaps and a bum note in a couple of solo’s, it’s a perfect performance.
Encoring with chilled classics including bittersweet Coles Corner, and the feather light touch of The Ocean, it is the melancholy and the sensitive that has hit the spot tonight.
I would have to say Richard Hawley plays a tight, packed set chocka with well loved tunes to a crowd who know exactly what they came for. No one got drunk, had a fight, spilt beer on a passerby or had a cheeky spliff outside. He looks great, carries the on-stage persona off like a friendly Gene Vincent in double denim and the crowd clearly love it. What’s not to like!
