A tiny community
hall in a small coastal village might seem like an unlikely venue for Darren
Watson and Matt Langley to kickstart their nationwide Shoot Your Television
tour. But last Friday night at Paekakariki's St Peters Hall it seemed like the
most natural choice in the world. Indeed, even with the licensing restrictions
which render the community trust-managed venue a BYO, everything was as near to
perfect as these things can get on a chilly mid-winter evening.
I arrived shortly
after the scheduled 8pm start time and was shocked to see the hall already
close to full and buzzing to the vibe being created by "special
guest" Bill Lake. A quick scout around the hall revealed a virtual who's
who of local muso talent in the audience itself and I knew immediately we were
in for a treat. There was no way Watson & co would be allowed to get away
with anything less than the real deal with such a picky bunch of talented TV-forsaking-onlookers.
For the
uninitiated, Bill Lake is something of a legend in local blues circles, a man
Watson himself cites as a major influence, and an ideal curtain-raiser. It's
around 20 years since I last saw Lake perform so it was wonderful to
see him still doing the live thing as passionately as ever. His set - acoustic guitar, voice, and much self-deprecating humour - was a mix of the
old and new stuff, one highlight being the old Windy City Strugglers' tune 'Can't Get
Back'. Typically, Lake paid tribute to contemporaries
like Arthur Baysting, Midge Marsden, and Rick Bryant - trailblazers all, and
men cut from exactly the same cloth. His near flawless performance set the
tone for the rest of the evening.
Next up we had folkie
and self-confessed "Southern Troubadour" Matt Langley. Again it was
very much the man/acoustic guitar template for the most part - save for
Langley's "Bob Dylan" moments when harmonica became his default
weapon of choice. I'll be honest, to my shame, I didn't know a lot about
Langley's music, but that made no odds at all, given that many of the songs in
his set were introduced as being "a new one".
Langley has a
great voice; gentle, persuasive, fragile at times, silky smooth at others; one
perfectly suited to the rather intimate surrounds on the night. So good, you
could almost picture him as a crooner in another light ... or lifetime. There's
no questioning his musical chops either, or the fact that he's clearly an
immensely talented wordsmith, but as much as I became engrossed in his
performance for long periods, I also found parts of it a bit too subdued. And
there's not a lot of joy to be found in some of those lyrics.
But that's a
minor quibble, specific to my own taste, and Langley certainly added plenty to
the evening - during his own set and on the multiple occasions he joined Watson
on stage during the final segment of the night. Like Lake, Langley also possesses a dry and offbeat sense of humour.
I have to confess
by the time Watson came on in his "solo" guise I was feeling somewhat
worse for wear after sharing perhaps a little too much of the BYO merlot (among
other things) being consumed by the perpetually swaying Janis Joplin-wannabe sitting/standing
next to me for much of the night. An otherwise complete stranger who somehow
morphed into an impromptu gig-going companion ... proving that one of the
upsides of community hall gigs is the overwhelming sense of community! (the
sting in this particular tale/tail was her revelation that her day job involved
drug and alcohol counselling) ...
The subsequent
blur means it's a struggle to recall Watson's set-list in any great detail. He
immediately stopped the room with his set opener, the title track from his St
Hilda's Faithless Boy album. That much was very memorable. There were other
songs from the St Hilda’s album, a damn fine version of ‘Crossroads’ (naturally
enough), and several from his most recent outing, Introducing Darren Watson, including
‘Some Men’ and a quite lovely ‘Thought I’d Seen It All’. For the second half of
his set, Watson was joined on stage (alongside Langley’s appearances) by
partner and drummer extraordinaire Delia Shanly, whose touch and timing was a
nice addition and gave those electric numbers a slightly fuller sound.
Much to the crowd’s
delight, we also got Watson’s two most recent singles, ‘Planet Key’, and ‘I Got
Your Office Right Here’, which, unless I missed something important like belated
shouts for an encore, closed the show.
I did leave the
venue in something of a hurry as it turns out said Janis Joplin-wannabe lives a virtual stones’ throw from my own humble
abode and she came fully equipped with her very own sober driver! … having
clearly been adopted, the lift home provided the perfect end to an almost
perfect Friday night.
The Shoot Your
Television tour continues well into July … check the pic above for details of
dates and venues. Whatever else you do, don’t miss it.
Or better still, go here to Watson's website and follow the appropriate links.
