St. Paul & The Broken Bones
When St. Paul & The Broken Bones played upstairs in the Studio two years ago it was one of the best gigs of that year. Intimate and powerful with a completely up for it audience, it made me believe the band were about to become huge as they headed off to play Glastonbury festival a few days later, but it must be said that didn’t quite happen. Strangely, looking back, the gig isn’t one that has grown in my memory, rather it’s made me consider, were they really as good as I thought they were that night?
The band may not have become huge, but this time around the Studio wouldn’t have held the large crowd who had assembled on yet another stifling night in Norwich. There was no support act, which normally would be a source of disappointment; here it just meant more time to spend outside quenching our thirst. When show time arrived we were all set, and for the next 80 mins or so we all got what we came for – totally authentic American soul music from an act who have been touring for months, and it showed in the interplay between the members. As brilliant as the band is though, there’s no point denying that the focus is frontman Paul Janeway. Yes, he might bear more than a passing resemblance to Alan Carr, but close your eyes and he sounds like one of the soul greats.
So did they deliver in the way they did two years ago? Well, kinda, but for me lightning didn’t quite strike twice. Whilst the band sounded fantastic, they don’t necessarily have a batch of songs that are truly memorable, and although the crowd were obviously fully into it, they were a strangely reserved bunch, quite different from the wild abandon of the Studio gig. Having said that, the music suited the sultry weather perfectly and Broken Bones & Pocket Change was the musical explosion of joy it always is. The three piece horn section added warmth and the whole band gave it their all, and for many who were seeing them for the first time they obviously made a big impact.
With their third album due for release next month, and a whole lot more touring ahead of them, this is a group who are building and evolving organically and increasing the size of their audience year on year. It’s a good place for them to be, and although the first time I saw them remains my favourite experience I know that the next time they play Norwich there’ll be even more fans out in force ready to be shown what a real soul band sound like.
