REVIEW: FYFE DANGERFIELD AND THE BOY WHO TRAPPED THE SUN AT BRISTOL THEKLA (19/09/10)
Fyfe Dangerfield has taken some time off from Guillemots to showcase his more introspective solo work, but he currently has an albatross around his neck. This is his cover of the Billy Joel classic She’s Always a Woman which earlier this year was featured in a hugely popular John Lewis advert. You know the one, the one showing various stages of a woman’s life that probably made your mum cry. Dangerfield got it out of the way in the encore and sung it quite beautifully, mostly acapella. Support act The Boy Who Trapped the Sun, aka Colin MacLeod from the Isle of Lewis, soothed the audience with his whimsical folk, before Dangerfield showcased tracks from debut solo album Fly Yellow Moon, and as a treat for Guillemots fans also played If the World Ends. His vocal style was part Damien Rice, part James Morrisson, part Michael Buble (though not in a camp/egotistical way). His inter song tales of life in the Outer Hebrides added an extra element to the show and kind of made the songs make much more sense. In your head, images of him playing his ethereal music in a tiny bedroom in a house on a craggy coast sprung to mind. Beautiful. He paved the way perfectly for man of the moment, Fyfe Dangerfield. This was a beautiful evening of music, so quiet at times that you could almost hear the waves lapping against the Thekla’s bows. So Brand New and When You Walk in the Room were more uptempo, but the abiding memories of this very special show were when Dangerfield was alone on stage, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar or piano without an albatross in sight.
Words: Martin Booth
