I manage to venture outside my little box of wedded bliss and DIY for an evening of so-called acoustic entertainment and the first gig of the year is another visit to the Acoustic Music Festival, which is held in St. George's Bristol on the Sunday for some reason. I don't really understand why you'd have an all-day acoustithon in this hall, which is not the most comfortable place at the best of times - although the sound is always excellent.
I arrive at about 6pm, in time to catch the last couple of songs from Fortune Drive and I have to say that the band sounds much better acoustic. I have always felt that their full electric sound is undynamic and samey, even the singer's awesome voice has never managed to overcome this. And it is awesome, a richly emotional soul voice, which rings out over the acoustic accompaniment.
Next up are The Cedar who are a many-headed beast, with the band switching instruments all over the place. The lovely acoustic songs are therefore fuller and more varied than usual, and are all the better for it. The Wraiths are on form tonight, their new material isn't much of a departure from their well established repertoire of setting classic poetry to music and many melodic themes recur throughout the songs but it never seems to matter as you get sucked into them. The addition of a big bass drum with slow hypnotic beats makes it quite an eerie set.
Tonight though, everybody is completely blown away by Jane Taylor whose bittersweet songs about life and love are consistently beautiful and upbeat. Her new album Compass is a worthy successor to her debut, building on a solid foundation. Babel finish the evening with a blast of arabic-tinged acoustic music, thick chords and fast rhythms and Danny's stunning voice blasting out over our heads. By this time though, I'm very uncomfortable and it's hard to get into the party mood. I wonder how people who have been here all day feel.
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