A twentieth anniversary has connotations of being in the coming
of age bracket and the full band show of Gretchen Peters did just that during
this current celebratory tour of Britain. Gretchen’s talent as a
singer-songwriter is sealed in the vault and her musical relationship with
Barry Walsh has been cast in gold for a long time. The live development of
working with Christine Bougie and Conor McCreanor added an extra spring to the step of the stage show and now the introduction of Colm McClean has raised
the band bar to the level of other pre-eminent artists. Gretchen’s ascendancy
continues to re-define her peak and this evening’s show at a sold out Artrix
Theatre in Bromsgrove drew many cries of the best yet. From a viewpoint of
seeing her live in several formats and different sized venues over the last
decade, it is difficult to argue with this claim, not just the pedal steel and
electric guitar of Colm garnishing the songs, but Gretchen herself finding
further incredible depth in conveying her compositions to a mesmerised audience.
A couple of songs into the first of the two high class
mirrored sets, we were given an introduction to how effective the pedal steel
guitar was going to be on stage with a gilt edged contribution to the scintillating
Tom Russell co-write ‘Guadalupe’. By
now it was apparent that Gretchen was in that transfixed zone of relaying the
majesty of her songs. ‘The Secret of Life’
opened proceedings, just like it did to her solo recording year a couple of
decades ago. The lyrical sharpness exclaimed in ‘the
secret of life is there ain't no secret and you don’t get your money back’ whetted
the appetite as Gretchen went straight into the cutting edge analysis of ‘The Matador’.
This popular song with the powerful conclusion was one of
three tracks from HELLO CRUEL WORLD to sparkle in the show’s first half,
alongside the emotive title track and the incredibly perceptive ‘Woman on the Wheel’. At this point Colm
chipped in with the first thrilling guitar solo as this top song, from still my
favourite Gretchen Peters album, added an extra vibrancy to the event. It is impossible
to mention this song and not wince at the vision of ‘one
false move and it’s a real bad day at the amusement park’. Apart from
the song which started things on the stroke of eight, the other memory lane
trip during the pre-break set was ‘Love
and Texaco’ from her second album and introduced as one of many car-inspired
songs written at the time. The other three songs before the interval that
probably brought the artists a welcome break, but not us admiring audience
members, had an up to date contemporary tinge. Ben Glover, who opened for
Gretchen when she last played Bromsgrove nearly three years ago, was kindly
credited as the co-writer on the recently award winning ‘Blackbirds’ and from the latest studio album which housed this song
and borrowed its title, the band served up a delightful version of ‘Everything Falls Away’. The remaining
song from the first set saw Gretchen temporarily move away from her own writing
and celebrate the work of Ben Bullington by singing one of his songs. ‘Ring Around the Moon’ was one of the
indulgent inclusions on the retrospective album Gretchen has just put out to
support this tour and flourished with the aid of further pedal steel.
‘Could the second half surpass the first?’ was pondered
during the interval and we all had a firm idea of what was to come. ‘Well she lit up the sky that fourth of July’ still raises
the hairs on your arm when the second verse of ‘Independence Day’ begins, as this classic now has a settled live
format of Gretchen solo on piano, when Barry kindly vacates the seat. In the
same vein that you know each tour sees her popularity in the UK increase; two
songs with a special place in many fans hearts over here find their inclusion on
the set list. ‘When You Are Old’ was not surprisingly played as a tribute to the late Terry Wogan. While one of several emotional moments arrived
as the line ‘And I wept in the arms of Jesus for the
choice you made’ was sung from ‘On
a Bus to St. Cloud’. This timeless classic slipped seamlessly into the
brilliant ‘Idlewild’ as that sad
pre-encore moment arrived.
So how was this successful night going to end? There had
been a lot of press about the recorded duet with Bryan Adams ‘When You Love Someone’ appearing on the
new compilation album and this duly made an appearance (sadly minus Bryan) as the first encore song.
This just leaves the finale and previously the territory of a Gram Parsons,
John Prine and Rolling Stones song. This evening all these had to make way for the
old Rodney Crowell/Waylon Jennings number ‘I
Ain’t Living Long Like This’ which appeared on the last tour, but had pride
of place this year as the closer. While credit has to be given to Conor for
playing the essential bass role all night, it was left for a piano/guitar duel
from Barry and Colm to end the show with Gretchen admiringly looking on, no
doubt proud to see how her band is evolving.
This tour has been a resounding success for Gretchen Peters
who was totally bowled over by the response, especially the reaction and aura to
her sold-out Union Chapel gig in London. She was buzzing throughout the show
and after, with a glow so grateful that many folks were continually being moved
by her music. The good people of Worcestershire and the West Midlands played
their part in this successful phase which on the positive side shows no sign of
abating or peaking. A truly memorable show consigned to the gift wrapped side
of the memory bank.
www.gretchenpeters.com
www.artrix.co.uk
www.gretchenpeters.com
www.artrix.co.uk