Sunday, October 5, 2014

Mary Gaultier


Mary Gauthier was brilliant last night at Bury Met.
I'm not keen on Bury, mind you. I went to school there and have fond memories of the market and the record shops. We had to run the gauntlaet of the soul-less precinct that's taken over the town centre, populated by groups of slightly intimidating young men with identical hair cuts, on our way to the Met.
The Met itself seemed OK - a bit upmarket compared with our usual gig venue, we got greeted at the door by a hipster with an id card who asked us if we were for Mary or something else I didn't catch (it's those weird Lancs accents).
We decided to sit out the support in the bar and have a drink, we were rewarded with a wave from Mary as she emerged from a door marked "no entry" to check her merch' stall.
We were slightly puzzled by the audience who emerged into the bar at the interval and decided they were definitely Radio 2 listeners. We'd expected a more "Hebden Bridge" like crowd (if you know what I mean), but there were more sensible anoraks than sensible shoes.
The hall itself was a nice intimate size, with all teired seating, and the sound was spot on. Mary came on looking slightly nervous but promptly delivered two songs without talking t to the audience, visibly exhaled with relief and relaxed into the rest of the performance.
It'd be nice to give a set list but I didn't go prepared to do a review and Mary didn't actually identify most of the songs. Mind you if I'd listened more attentively to the anorak clad bloke sat behind us, who announced all the songs before they started and occasionally sang along ....
Anyway, she did Trouble and Love, I Drink, Another Train, Christmas In Paradise ... and a really moving song co-written with a woman Marine who'd served in Afghanistan ... she dueted on some tracks with the support act, Ben Glover, including Oh Soul which was stunning. The inevitable encore, also with Ben, included Mercy - the worlds 20th best sad country song according to that "fromerly great" publication, Rolling Stone. The lines "I love my chcurch and country ... but they need a little mercy now" gaining added poignancy sung by a bloke from Belfast.
If you get the chance, you should go and see her.

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