Jeff Lang review
REVIEW: Jeff Lang and Grant Cummerford with support from RedGap VENUE: Promenade Suite, Villa Marina, Douglas DATE: Sunday, August 3 REVIEWER: John Gregory PHOTOS: Geoff McCann
IF no one knew that much about Jeff Lang or his music before Sunday night's gig, they walked away with a lasting memory.
The Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist, accompanied by Grant Cummerford on bass, was a sensation.
In the interval his new-found fans were buying CDs and getting them signed by the man himself – a likeable, witty figure with a great sense of humour and an amazing talent.
The evening was started off in exceptional style by RedGap.
The band, consisting of Barry Nelson, Val Nelson, Joanne Earner and Alessandro Spadoni, performed some great covers such as Crosby Stills Nash and Young's Helplessly Hoping and Randy Newman's Guilty. Joanne has a fantastic voice that makes you sit up and really listen and the harmonies during their set were wonderful. Likewise Alessandro's lead guitar playing was subtle and highly effective.
Next up was the man himself. I had checked out some of Jeff's CDs and video footage on the internet before the gig and was blown away.
Seeing him live was even better.
The number he did before a break in the performance, London, contained one of the most beautiful and moving melodies I have ever heard. But then he took the song off into a world of experimentation before returning to that beautiful melody. The audience couldn't help but applaud the brilliance of it.
In fact that moment alone would have been worth going along for.
Jeff proved to be good with the audience banter too. One person started shouting out 'My Sweet Lord, George Harrison'.
This became annoying but Jeff dealt with it swiftly. While I cannot repeat exactly what he said in a family newspaper it was something along the lines of 'sod him, he never did any of my songs', – one of the best comebacks I have ever heard at a gig.
Likewise, it was interesting hearing him talk about watching Tom Waits on TV after a gig and how he became a fan.
Grant is a fantastic bass player and the combination of Jeff and Grant's musical skills provided a full sound and no other instruments were necessary.
It's incredibly hard to describe Jeff's music as, while he could be compared with a number of artists, his sound is very much his own.
All I can say is that it is always interesting and often mesmerising. Jeff promised he would be back and everyone who witnessed the gig will be hoping he does.
The gig was organised by Jonno Gollow of JonnoPromotions, making Jeff the latest in a long line of exceptional musicians brought to the Island by Jonno.
He will be bringing more over for GuitarFest 2008 later this month and tickets are on sale now.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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