Stephen Fretwell / Karima Francis / Denis Jones

Manchester is a cocksure place when it comes to music. It believes that it is the place to be and this edition of The Great Northern Music Show was highlighting that somewhat. Not content with producing its own bona fide talent, ambitious artistes flock to Mancunia to try and make their name, just as the night’s headliner, Scunthorpe’s Stephen Fretwell, did before making his breakthrough with his 2004 debut ‘Magpie’.

	"Sometimes it’s the uncomplicated things that work the best."

The 1st act I saw, Denis Jones, also gravitated here from pastures afar. “Somewhere down south” my vague source tells me, but in fact he’s from Skelmersdale north of here. That’s not too far away, but it’s nearer to Liverpool, so the point stands!

Jones is a unique performer. It’s frequent now that you see someone create their own loops on their technology for them to play their guitar over, but this is a whole new ball game. Jones layers his songs with beatbox, film samples, claps, slaps on wood and the buzz of this thumb on an amp plug, all the while attacking his pedals with his woolly-socked feet. As a result, the introductions are huge in length, 2 minutes plus, so things take some time to warm up before Jones starts singing.

That length meant that his set was restricted to just 3 songs, but that is probably enough. There are so many layers in the music, it is so complicated and intricate it takes a while to soak in, and even now I’m not sure if it was any good or not. But it has left me perplexed and I think this has to be a good thing. This indecision certainly means that I want to see him again; probably his intention with audiences, which is quite sneaky really.

Jones was the first act I saw, for I must confess that I missed the first act, Liz Green. This is terribly remiss given that Ms Green had just won the Glastonbury Great Unheard competition, but I’m afraid it couldn’t be helped. Quite appropriately for this Acoustic night, I had a very un-rock and roll excuse for my tardiness. Unfortunately Mrs Haggart was at a school PTA meeting, and therefore I had to put the children to bed before I came out. Radical!

Karima Francis, originally from Blackpool, is causing a massive stir, and it was immediately easy to see why. My god! What a voice she has, the power and range of any of your Careys or Aguileras, but with some gloriously sparse acoustic songs rather than overblown songs featuring vocal gymnastics. It’s amazing to discover that in her previous band Litterbug she was the drummer!

The atmosphere in the venue was electric. The Manchester crowd, usually rudely talkative during even the most delicate of performers, stood agog, transfixed by this slight woman, made even smaller by her long dreadlocked hair dominating the view.

Occasionally the songs were a little over-long, but that is a mild criticism. Karima Francis has the potential to be a star. Her fragile songs like ‘Morse Code’ and ‘The Author’ have an all round appeal, from the cool kids to the coffee table background music lovers. When she signs to one of the number of labels who are apparently begging for her signature, you will hear a lot more of her.

Which left Stephen Fretwell with a lot to follow and he does a sterling job despite a slow start because of his natural charm and charming songs of loves lost and found. He has a Dylan-esque nasal delivery, particularly on ‘What’s That You Say Little Girl’, a song which he had to start twice as halfway through the first effort a crowd heckle suddenly hit home and he started chuckling.

It’s that down to earth connection that made his set particularly enjoyable, and the lyrics too can surmise the hopes and dreams of the listener. That can be the hope of romance on ‘Darling, Don’t’ or the dreams of moving away from dreary lives to the “place I heard on the radio, never sleeps” on ‘New York’, the gloriously engaging song he closed with that left a wistful smile on everyone’s face as they left the room. They had been won over by his confident charisma – the type that every artist must have to survive the Manchester scene – and simply lovely songs. Sometimes it’s the uncomplicated things that work the best.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.