Star rating – 2/10 or 9/10
This
has got to be the weirdest gig I have ever been to. I am still not sure if I
loved it or hated it but it was certainly entertaining. The setting was the
intimate Kraak club, tucked away down a nearly blind alley in one of the less salubrious
parts of the Northern Quarter. And David Thomas Broughton created a cacophony
of sound via recording trickery and echoing mikes.
He
looks very unassuming, dare I say ordinary, but he is anything but mundane. Broughton
is obviously not at home conversing with an audience – he turned his back to them
for parts of his performance and there was no
interaction with or even acknowledgement of the audience to speak of throughout.
Although to be fair there were no breaks in the performance to allow for clapping
or otherwise until the very end.
He is
a very unusual performer, to understate the case somewhat, with a unique vocal
sound, reminiscent of avant-garde performers like Laurie Anderson or Yoko Ono.
It did all feel a bit New York, with a Yorkshire accent. Broughton is clearly an
eccentric genius, who wanders around the audience singing and gesticulating.
I
couldn’t tell you how many songs he performed- it wasn't always clear when they
started and ended. I did partially recognise some snippets from tracks from his
‘Outbreeding’ CD, although to be fair he didn’t play some of my favourites,
like ‘Apologies’, or ‘Joke’. He has a beautiful and original voice, and writes
some fabulous lyrics. He is also clearly an accomplished musician. But seeing him
live is something else altogether. David
Thomas Broughton is bonkers and extremely baffling
at times, and eccentric in a good way (I think!). Go and see for
yourself – you won’t see the like anywhere else I can assure you.
No comments:
Post a Comment