Live Review

Ian McNabb – Bluecoat Arts Centre

31st Jul 2009

Ian McNabb returned to his Liverpool home last night to treat his loyal fans to one of his customary acoustic sets.

In the compact and bijou surroundings of the newly built section of the Bluecoat, we were treated to a selection of well loved tracks and a sprinkling of newly written songs.

McNabb playing a couple of different acoustic guitars (one had to be tuned to his earlier style of fast playing) and was assisted on several songs by his co-hort Roy Corkhill on the huge upright double bass. Towards the end of the gig Macca was also able to coerce his friend Ian Prowse (Amsterdam & Pele leader) from the crowd to help sing a rousing rendition of the Bruce Springsteen classic Hungry Heart.

It’s now almost 30 years since Macca took to the stage to entertain and introduce the world to his song writing and singing skills. If anything this performance showed he was maturing rather nicely like a fine wine.

Old Icicle Works classics like Love Is A Wonderful Colour (now an amazing 26 years old), Out Of Season and Evangeline never sounded so good.

Macca also played a couple of new songs This Love and New Light and advised us that he’s got a full album worth to release, if only he could get a recording deal. Surely, someone will oblige one of the country’s best singer songwriters, so we can all benefit from hearing these gems.

Highlights included an impromptu wander through the crowd during Little Girl Lost asking the audience to sing and clap along. Ian retorted that “You’d never get Ryan Adams doing this”. A beautiful run through of the other scouse Macca’s Yesterday.

This was followed by a discussion when a bloke from the audience told Ian in a none scouse accent that he hated The Beatles (philistine and in Liverpool as well – he was lucky to escape alive). He then added that his favourite band was The Cramps. McNabb humoured him by trying make up a thrash punk song. I wonder if it’ll be on his next CD!

The evening came to a close after one encore and the lights went up. Then much to everyone’s surprise McNabb re-appeared a second time to say “The lights go up when he I say so and not before”. We then had to wait a minute for Roy Corkhill’s bass to be plugged back in and spark back into life before a closing rendition of the Icicle’s favourite Undestanding Jane.

Song List

Stone My Soul
Lady By Degrees
All Things To Everyone
Still Got The Fever
Potency
Out Of Season
Little Girl Lost
Before All Of This
This Love
New Light
The Man Who Can Make A Woman Laugh
Yesterday
Hollow Horse
Evangeline
When It All Come Down
Love Is A Wonderful Colour
Camaraderie
Hungry Heart
Understanding Jane