We were out this weekend to catch a couple of gigs as part of a celebration for the wife’s birthday, firstly at The Gate and then a day later at Buffalo Bar.
The Gate Arts Centre in Kepock Street is a lovely old venue that on the inside feels more like a Dutch barn than it does its previous incarnation as a Presbyterian church with its vaulted wooden ceiling and wooden floors.
A glance around the room showed that there was a mixed age audience – and that the venue was set up to be all seated – not something I’m usually a fan of but as it turned out for this particular gig it was perfect.
Luke Sital-Singh
We arrived a touch late to the venue to find Luke Sital-Singh’s support set already underway. Sital-Singh has such a great voice and a collection of excellent songs that seeing him as support to Villagers was a very enjoyable
Connor O’ Brien’s Villagers were the main act of the night and they came on without fanfare. The stage with rose-shaped wall-mounted speakers and turquoise lighting had a very fifties feel that was emphasised by an old-fashioned standard-lamp placed centre stage, an atmosphere which seemed pretty apt for Villagers with their huge double-bass and full-sized harp which was put to excellent use on the opening song “Darling Arithmetic” with beautiful pizzicato
Conor O’ Brien has an amazing voice which he used to thrilling effect throughout the set, allowing it to swoop and soar and holding notes to the point where we were holding our breath. He filled the auditorium with his wonderful vocals.
His lyrics are witty and amusing but also poetic and often challenging and confessional. He doesn’t just wear his heart on his sleeve – this is lyrical open-heart surgery, baring the soul to stunning effect.
At times his sad yearning words reminded me of the great Jimmy Webb-penned hits of Glenn Campbell like “Witchita Linesman”, the more acerbic tunes like Elvis Costello in his pomp.
The newer work such as “Dawning on me” are wistful and ethereal and scandi-drama cool.
Songs like “So Naive” build from simple hammer-on guitar riffs and ghostly keys to big movie-soundtrack sized epics then fade back to stillness.
Throughout it all it seemed that O’Brien is incapable of singing a bad note key alone a bad song. When I first saw him years ago on “Later” singing “Becoming a Jackal” I didn’t recognise his genius.
In the words of his song “Courage” – “it took a little time”
But tonight I saw it and like the astronauts first sight of the Earthrise it was – “Beautiful. Just beautiful”.
Eat see hear Cardiff 