OPENING with Tall Ships was a lovely tribute to multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer’s summer on the high seas in the annual Tall Ships race. It was also a timely reminder, if one was needed, as to why Show of Hands are such good live performers. They know how to work an audience and in no time got the full house humming along to Santiago or joining in the choruses of old favourites such as Cousin Jack and Roots.
Introducing new songs from the pen of singer-songwriter Steve Knightley among their huge back catalogue worked perfectly. The Napoli is sure to become a firm favourite with its sing-along quality, charting the ship’s fate off the south Devon coast giving contemporary wrecking a new meaning.
And if there were any bankers in the audience, they may have felt a little uncomfortable with Knightley’s song, Arrogance, Ignorance, Greed (and the title track from the new studio album) – an amusing take on corporate greed.
If there was a star on Sunday night, it must surely be Phil Beer. His musicianship was phenomenal, moving seamlessly between fiddle, guitar and mandolin.
Double-bassist Miranda Sykes has become a regular and welcome feature of the acoustic duo’s live performances and her powerful, bluesy voice on Blue Cockade was one of the tingle factor moments, particularly as Steve Knightley was nursing a hoarse voice.
A final word for support act, French singer Flossie Malavialle, whose witty repartee on everything from oxymorons to life in the north-east, raised many laughs.
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