|
Roddy Frame/Hobotalk
Burns an’a’ that! Festival
Ayr Town Hall, Ayr, Scotland, 27th May 2005
As soon as he gets on stage, Hobotalk’s Marc Pilley announces he
is honoured to open for a great songwriter such as Roddy Frame, then
launches in ‘Give Your Heart’ from his band’s recently
released new album, “Notes on Sunset”. Outside it might be
a rainy and dreich night, as they say in Scotland, but Hobotalk convey
a sense of warmth and summer with their gentle and inspiring songs. Tonight
there’s only half of the band on stage, but piano, guitar and vocals
are enough to recreate Hobotalk’s minimalist magic. Thanks to highlights
such as the beautiful ‘Letter from a Friend’ and the soothing ‘Me & My
Mountain’, by the end of the set – that finishes with ‘On
the Edge of Nowhere’ - Hobotalk have practically won the audience
over.
The Ayr Town Hall then fills with voices calling Roddy Frame, and he
appears on stage pretty soon. As fit as ever, with just three guitars
in tow, Frame opens with ‘Small World’ and follows it with
more acoustic songs - among them also ‘Abloom’ and the autobiographical ‘Bigger
Brighter Better’ - from “Surf” and “The North
Star”. The first chords for ‘Stray’ are welcomed by
enthusiastic applauses, while ‘Black Lucia’ is enriched by
a long guitar interlude. Frame is rather chatty (he praises the audience
for being a good listener and Scottish, “You’re right on
two counts there,” he says, “thirdly, you are also perceptive”),
relaxed and willing to recount us anecdotes or stories behind his songs
such as his brand new ‘Rock God’, ode to glam rock and, essentially,
a song about how it was growing up in East Kilbride (“A nightmare!” somebody
answers from the audience).
Frame is pretty straightforward in delivering his songs, and his talent
is simply overwhelming. Towards the end of the show, he goes down memory
lane, pleasing the audience with classics ‘The Bugle Sounds Again’, ‘The
Boy Wonders’, ‘Down the Dip’, and ‘Birth of the
True’. The response is simply incredible, with fans singing in
unison the choruses of these classics by Aztec Camera, there are even
people head-banging during the very final song, an acoustic version of ‘80s
hit ‘Somewhere in My Heart’.
For the fans gathered here tonight it must be reassuring to see how the ‘80s
boy wonder is still one of the best British songwriters of the last 20
years. (Anna Battista)
(Photos by Anna Battista - click on an image to see large version) |