Concert review: Penguin Café, Lichfield Festival
Take a good helping of minimalist classical music, add some tasty chunks of folk and serve with just a light sprinkling of jazz.
Lichfield Festival
Concert reviews by John Watson
Take a good helping of minimalist classical music, add some tasty chunks of folk and serve with just a light sprinkling of jazz.
That's the musical recipe of the band Penguin Café, which appeared at the Garrick last night as part of the Lichfield Festival.
Last night Penguin Café delighted a sold-out audience with favourites from the band's repertoire – but too much of the music was bland, played with technical expertise yet lacking the essential heart.
Later, at the festival's Sundown Jazz session in the George IV, the Charlotte Glasson Band showed what musical heart is all about, with a vibrant and good-humoured performance of ska, reggae, latin and blues influenced tunes.
If you could bottle this band's music, how wonderful it would be to inhale it to start every day.
