Midlake 16/2/10

The support was a singer/songwriter, Sarah Jaffe whose band included a confident rhythm guitarist, Robert Gomez and a drummer and keyboards player. Her voice was mixed too loud so there was some distortion notably at the start but aside from this they were a good act. Her songs had some attitude - one was called "Black Hoax Lie" - and the band suited them well. Robert Gomez was particulalry good on guitar and accordian. Tony Pulido from Midlake came on and sang a Wainwright song "One Man Guy" with Sarah which provided a change of mood near the end.

Midlake came on stage during the interval and sorted out their instruments - no roadie rubbish for them. I like that and there was a lot to like about the band and the gig. Four guitarists plus a bassist is always good. I liked the way they played most of their new album which will not have been heard by much of the audience and also their hit album "Van Occupanther" but didn't play any older stuff or covers. The new stuff I particularly liked - they seem to be regressing from the 70's feel of Van Occupanther to a 60's English Folk vibe and these are beautifully melodic and crafted songs. But having said that there wasn't a huge amount to love or get excited about. The singing was a bit uninspired and the songs were precisely delivered rather than extemporised. One of the exceptions to that and one of best moments was "Roscoe" which began with an extended instrumental intro that included the two lead guitars playing off each other and at that point the band was doing something exciting and different. The intro broke into Roscoe proper and the energy continued with this classy song. The other exciting element was the auxiliary touring guitarist Max Townsley. He was mainly in the background until he had an extended solo on "Rulers, Ruling All Things" from the new album and whilst he wasn't prominent (Roscoe excepted) for most of the show he got three more extended solos near the end. He had a free-flowing style that had hints of Dickie Betts. I need to check out any other stuff he has done.
Midlake mixed up the songs from the two albums. Although the older songs got the audience recognition I think I prefer the new ones better. I particularly liked "Acts of Man", "The Courage of Others" and "Bring Down". They finished with an encore of "Branches" from Occupanther and left that "It's hard for me but I'm trying" repetitive refrain hanging in the air. Nice show but I think they could be better if they let themselves go a bit.