Roddy Frame, Birmingham Town Hall – review
It's a rare treat to see Scottish singer-songwriter Roddy Frame on stage these days and the former Aztec Camera main man did not disappoint on his long-awaited sell-out out date in the second city
Last night's concert in the town hall was the first of only five shows that he is performing this year with just his acoustic guitars.
He delighted fans with a set ranging his long career from his first recording, the beautiful Mattress of Wire, to brand new song Twilight.
It was his eighties Aztec Camera classics that drew the loudest applause throughout the night with a brilliant Oblivious, assisted by some unexpected backing vocals from within the audience, one of the highlights
After struggling with his monitors early on – not really spotted by the audience on a shimmering version of Spanish Horses and the clever Small World – Roddy, casually dressed in check shirt and jeans and looking trim and fit, really settled in and seemed really happy to be back in live action and keen to chat and reminisce about his career and happy memories of playing in Brum.
His guitar work, as he roamed the large stage, was fascinating and fluid and his voice, as fresh as ever, belied his 54 years.
He was even happy to take requests from the audience and duly delivered a superb Rock God, from solo album Western Skies and written in homage to the late Marc Bolan and David Bowie, and the haunting Killermont Street
Following his song Surf, he launched into a cover of I Can Hear Music, best known for its Beach Boys version, and even slotted in a short Velvet Underground cover – Who Loves the Sun.
There were great deliveries of How Men Are, The Boy Wonders and Walk Out to Winter in his long set as Roddy decided to dispense with a stage departure and formulaic encore.
Down the Dip and an aching performance of The Birth of the True finished the night and sent everyone home happy and delighted to see that his career is far from over.
Earlier support was provided by Essex singer-songwriter Kevin Pearce, only recently recovered from a heart attack. He was thrilled to be playing in such a prestigious venue and delivered a set of his own songs and a cover of John Lennon's Working Class Hero and finishing with So On, the title track from his last album, showcasing his soaring vocal skills.
