Erik Mongrain / Jon Gomm / Mike Newsham

The guitar tapping style may have been around for a while, but there are only a few musicians about today that still carry on the techniques, and therefore continue the trend for causing new audiences to catch drop-jaw syndrome.

Two of my favourites are playing in York's Fibbers venue this evening, local Jon Gomm and not so local Erik Mongrain. Both take the guitar further as just a stringed instrument, and push it towards the class of percussion and bass, and in some ways a piano.

Apologies to first support act Mike Newsham, whom I missed due to working late. I'm sure the local lad's fast strumming techniques that made him the Strung Out 2003 winner went down very well in one of his local haunts.

Now Jon Gomm tells me he doesn't like to do support gigs. Only with the exceptions of Clarence Park festival appearances and his hero Nick Harper does the Leeds man take second stage. So tonight's main act must be impressive, if Mr Gomm has bowed down to second in the running.

I manage to catch four songs from Gomm's set, all classic in their own right. 'Waterfall', with it's impressive finger work (never before has a guitar sounded so much like falling water), the sultry "song about shagging" 'Afterglow', and the always impressive instrumental 'Stupid Blues', with it's all out assault on the guitar body and strings (Gomm taps the guitar body whilst making the bass sound with his thumb over the fret, and using both hands along the fret board to play the melody, a bluesy, flowing song that sounds great on CD (as well as looking astounding live).



That’s it with Gomm's work, it’s always fantastic to see the man in action, but the songs themselves can stand alone on a CD (these are from debut 'Hypertension') and still grab your attention, so his talent can stretch beyond just the visual side.

After taking requests, which prove how popular Gomm is becoming when at these rare support shows people can yell out his original numbers (not just for his cover of Radiohead's 'High and Dry') we are treated to the blast of rock that is 'Gloria' about his "first forbidden" relationship with a chav, "as I was an emo!"

Now taking into account Gomm's decision to support this next guy, and the amount of people that have pointed out to me his videos on You Tube (and in turn I find myself showing everyone I come into contact with his mesmerising videos), I am really excited to be getting this rare chance to see Erik Mongrain.

Unfortunately for the Canadian the venue, which is only small, is nowhere near full. However I only found out about this gig the morning of the show, and I am sure that the place would have sold out had it been for more promotion, or maybe I should show the videos to more people! No matter how many are here though, for as soon as the barrier has two rows of people against it the rest of us can not see anything. You see, Erik likes to sit down to play, especially with the tapping techniques, so many of us can only hear his delicious sounds (or watch them on the TVs at the back, which portray everyone as a glowing shape with no features). For the entire gig it's a case of "ooh, I can see his elbow / forehead / microphone / actually... nothing!" Which is a shame, as with no singing the music, (which sounds amazing, like two acoustic guitars are dancing) is all we at the back are getting.



For most of the set Mongrain, a tiny, chilled out looking character, plays the guitar upright with the neck held high, sat cross-legged on an amplifier box. He tells us the names and meanings to the songs, his fondness of rain, and hatred of people filming his new, as yet unrecorded tracks on their mobile (to the fella in front of me, you actually were a life saver, as I could at least watch part of the set by looking at your phone screen!). Though I do agree; they way to remember a gig is not through a device that has been hastily mass produced so that people can watch over pixel-ated videos with horrific sound quality, it is to use your eyes and watch the show as it happens. Maybe take a photograph or two.

Tonight's main set is only short, around seven songs long, but you can imagine how much stress is placed on your hands if you play in these complicated styles for a long period of time (now and again Mongrain can be seen to shake his hands a little; the banter between songs allowing for a short rest for the fingers). Only the last two tracks are played using the piano like guitar-tapping method, where Mongrain sits the guitar flat across his lap and uses mainly his index fingers to tap and strike the fret board and strings, resulting in a varied and delightful sound (the carbon fibre guitar produces long-ringing notes, so the music layers itself beautifully).



Whether he's playing upright guitar on new tracks like 'Equilibrium', or 'Fates', or wowing us with the lap-tapped 'PercussienFa' and popular 'Airtap!', this young lad deserves the recognition he is now getting over here, as this type of style easily takes commitment to develop and continue to use.

Setlist:
Fates
La Dernière Pluie (The Last Rain)
Mais Quand? (But When)
The Silent Fool
Equilibrium
PercussienFa
Airtap!

FUTURE GIGS

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