Roddy Woomble
With the Coronation celebrations concluded, and just a brief respite before Eurovision mania takes over the airwaves, a gentle stroll around The Mere followed with a gig at the Corn Hall in Diss seemed like the perfect Bank Holiday tonic.
Roddy Woomble is founding member and lead vocalist of Idlewild, the Scottish post-Britpop and indie band formed in Edinburgh in the mid-90's. Their albums included '100 Broken Windows' and 'The Remote Part', both of which were certified Gold in the UK, and the single 'You Held The World In Your Arms' gave the Top Ten a wee bruising in 2002.
Woomble appears relaxed and comfortable as he took the stage along with keyboard player Andrew Mitchell (formerly of Dundee band The Hazy Janes, and now fellow bandmate in Idlewild) and, as is the accepted habit of touring artists, he kicks off with two tracks from his latest solo album, 'Lo! Soul'. 'A New Day Has Begun' is then plucked from an earlier 2011 album, a song that Woomble explains was used extensively during an episode of BBC Springwatch that also starred a gang of baby weasels. He asks us about the origin of Diss, and learns that the name is the Saxon word for 'ditch', and that the town was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The town is henceforth referred to as 'Domesday Ditch'.
We have to wait until the seventh song before Woomble picks up his acoustic guitar for the title track off 2006 solo album 'The Secret Is My Silence', and whilst he may not be the world's best guitarist, the addition certainly broadens the sound considerably from just Mitchell's keyboard, sampler and drum machine accompaniment.
Between the solo material there is room for some Idlewild favourites, and stalwart fans can be heard quietly singing along to the likes of 'American English' and 'Little Discourage'. However, my favourite moment comes when Woomble retrieves his guitar for the gentle 'Waverley Steps', also from 'The Secret Is My Silence'. 'The Universe Is On My Side' is performed in response to a pre-tour Tweet request, and the drum machine kicks in again for 'Take It To The Street' from the new album. There is time for one more Idlewild favourite, 'You Held The World In Your Arms', before Woomble and Mitchell return to the stage for their encore of 'In Remote Part / Scottish Fiction'.
Whilst the evening was a rare treat for the Idlewild / Woomble fans in the audience, the evening might, perhaps, have benefited from remaining acoustically based, maybe using the Nord keyboard simply as a piano, and dropping the drum machine and sampler completely. Whilst touring with a full band is understandably an expensive luxury, less really can be more, and Woomble's warm baritone voice really needed very little adding to it within the intimate confines of Diss Corn Hall.
Opening support came from local singer-songwriter Eliza Delf, a name that we will surely hear a lot more of in the coming months. Accompanied by three members of her 'Wilderness Collective' on guitar, cello and percussion, Delf impressed with six songs from her own debut album 'Into The Wilderness', ahead of a headlining show at Norwich Arts Centre on June 20th.
