Live Review Rosie Doonan
Oporto's Monday night Gaslight Club shows off some great folk
Live Review: Rosie Doonan
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Gary Stewart’s ever popular Monday night shows, The Gaslight Club, offered up a crowd-pleasing bill that got the chilled out, red wine vibe nodding its sanguine head in Oporto, one of the many classy Call Lane establishments.
Kicking off the night, Matt Bentley gave us a set of songs straight from the heart – and what a gorgeous voice he has. Sometimes managing to float up into alto territory, this man’s vocal range and styling’s are to be envied. It was a shame he felt one of the songs wasn’t being conveyed well enough to complete it, stopping halfway through; it sounded more than alright to the rest of the audience.
Next up was the gently nasal and world-weary Stevie Jones. Plenty of professional experience meant his anecdotes wore well with the crowd, and the harmonica sections weren’t bad either. At one point he managed to get the chorus of ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ into a vocally improvised section, which got everyone singing along.
Rosie Doonan completed the night’s trio of acoustic acts, with a little help from her good friend and our promoter for the night, Gary Stewart. This was surely the night of high-pitched male voices, as Stewart’s falsetto was not only fabulous, but tonally gentle enough to blend seamlessly with Doonan’s harmonies. This set of songs was a little more sophisticated and chart friendly; with Doonan sitting vocally somewhere between Cerys Matthews and Roisin Murphy, she took the audience on a mysterious journey, filled with tales of woe. The electric guitar was a great addition to an already well-rounded set, too.
Excellent business as usual at the Gaslight Club then; the sort of darkly lit venue that benefited from a smoky air back in the day, with relaxing acoustic music to take the edge off your Monday and ease you nicely into the rest of the week.
Rosie Doonan played The Gaslight Club at Oporto on 21 June
Posted on Thursday 1st July 2010
Marianna Rizkallah
Oporto
31-33 Call Lane, Leeds, LS1 7BT
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Comment by Matt Bentley
Posted on Fri 30th Jul 10 2:19 pm
Hello - Matt Bentley here. Cheers for a lovely review. I agree that Rosie was excellent and her and Gary singing together was a great way to finish off the night. I had a great time playing.
It was a shame I had to stop that song part way through and I wouldn’t normally do that, but when the main riff kicked in, it started peaking the p.a. system, and I didn’t want to risk damaging their speakers.
Thanks again.
Matt
