Now Glossop isn't too far from Manchester - about 15 miles - but news travels slowly. Which is why, I suppose, The Globe has chosen to stick Cooper on at 9:20, as part of their singer songwriter night. He therefore performed to roughly 15 people, which even in this intimate venue looked a bit sparse.
That's a shame, because Cooper's set is full of well crafted love songs, and his tall slight frame, together with a touch of stage awkwardness and Mark Morriss pitch, have an endearing quality of vulnerability.
Although rehearsing now with a full band, tonight only Gareth Bartlett joins him on stage to add expert piano and harmonies to Cooper's acoustic guitar. Time limits them to just 7 tracks, opening with 'Get Away From Me', a complicated stop/start beginning played with confident aplomb by both, despite some equipment difficulties.
Each song with keyboard is an upbeat toe-tapping romp, whilst the three acoustic-only tracks are delicate and reflect his nervous manner. It's an irony then, that his most fragile lyric in 'She Sells Sea Shells' - 'Hold me tonight, as I feel that I might, do something wrong out of fright' - is in fact played on upbeat piano and organ and thereby has the strongest foundations. You suspect that this is to draw the song away from the dreary acoustic territory of the likes of Damien Rice.
'Turn the Light Off', another piano/organ stomper, is a cheery finish to an appreciative audience, despite the lack of bodies. The venue filled up later, but the main attraction had been and gone. One day, the Glossop public will realise what they missed.
article by: Jonathan Haggart
published: 01/11/2004 14:14
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.