Andy Fairweather-Low 13/11/15

A trip to the Borough Theatre in Abergavenny to see a local lad made good is always recommended and having caught A F-L many times before we were definitely up for this gig. I like him best when he plays country blues which he very clearly enjoys doing and a Jimmy Reed number earlier on and a song called Lightning Boogie later in the set stood out. He of course played the old Amen Corner hits - that was expected but they weren't the best songs in the set. What is good is his excellent if understated guitar playing and a tight four-piece playing stuff they enjoy ranging across styles and the decades. 'It Hurts Me Too' was another bluesy classic in the set. The sax player,Nick Pentelow, has a good rock and roll style and I enjoyed Peter Gunn - (who wouldn't?) which segued into 'Apache'as well as the other songs where the sax got a solo outing. Of Andy's old stuff, I rate 'Hymn for my Soul' and yes I'll admit it 'Wide Eyed and Legless'. Roll on the next time he's in town

Fains - 8/11/15

A last minute trip to Cardiff to see Fains, a guitar plus violin duo playing a small venue in front of a tiny audience. First up was guitarist Jim Ghedi who played a solo guitar in a distinctive style which was Spanish-guitar influenced and the set was really good. I went away clutching a CD and it is getting played. Fains featuring my niece, Jo, on violin and Nick Jonah Davis on guitar were also very distinctive and very good. The guitar was intricate and unusual and blended beautifully with a more direct and raucous (in a nice way) violin. The duo had recently prepared the last twenty or minutes or so of the set and I liked the rawer sound of the last couple of tracks although it was all good and enjoyable and deserved a proper audience. It is difficult music to categorise which is always a good sign and I hope to hear more soon.

The Staves - 7/11/2015

I was expecting to miss at least some of the support act but got there for the start and I'm glad I did. He was Gabrielle Rios from New York and he kicked off with a guitar and vocal solo version of 'Voodoo Chile' - ambitious but surprisingly good and different. That's almost two Hendrix covers in a row as Steve Earle sang 'hey Joe' very near the end of his gig. Then the other two band members came on (cello + double bass) and the half hour set went too quickly with some original songs, some spiky guitar playing and a good band sound all together. The Staves had a three-piece band behind them (as well as playing guitar and other stuff themselves) plus a three-piece brass and violin section so there were up to nine musicians on stage for some songs. Early on they did a couple of songs from their recent album including the excellent and catchy 'Black and White'and they covered pretty much all of that album with the rest other songs of theirs and just one cover 'Feel' from Bombay Bicycle Club. The thing with The Staves is that you have three voices in perfect harmony and that vocal sound is front and centre all the time despite the size of the band. It is a sound that is joy to listen to and they played on those harmonies with voice looping as well so at times there were five or more Staves voices in action. A highlight of their earlier stuff was the ethereal 'Mexico'. The two or three songs after that were also excellent and all in all the gig had a nice dynamic to it. They finished the encore with Teeth White' which was clearly the audience favourite after a new song whose name I forget. I am a sucker for the well-harmonized sound of female vocals and The Staves delivered.