DUKE SPECIAL – WEDGEWOOD ROOMS, PORTSMOUTH, 25th October 2015

I knew very little about tonight’s openers Sea and Air, other than the one track I checked out gave the impression they could be suitable for inoffensive drive time radio, but as it turned out I was more than pleasantly surprised to find the duo were both intriguing and mesmerising to watch along with performing beautiful songs and having a welcoming on stage presence.

Daniel Benjamin sat centre stage to alternate between playing drums and guitar (at times both together) and sang lead vocals, his musical partner Eleni Zafiriadou switching between harpsichord, keyboard and guitar whilst playing organ peddles with her feet making for an altogether bigger sound than you’d expect from the two piece.

Despite all this going on Sea and Air still manage to make their self-styled “Ghost Pop” fairly subtle and minimalistic – that is until Benjamin announces they want to become bigger than the Scorpions and encourages the small crowd to make as much noise as their stadium rock counterparts…

As an artist Duke Special has always stayed true to himself, embracing creative freedom when it comes to the more experimental concepts such as “Under the Dark Cloth” (recorded as a soundtrack to a collection of photographs by Stieglitz, Steichen and Strand) through to his London residency as the on stage musician for the musical “Mother Courage and her Children”, whereas tonight is part of his “Look Out Machines!” tour accompanied by long-time collaborator Chip Bailey on percussion.

Sat behind his trusty upright piano Duke Special captivates his audience from the start, a naturally beautiful voice in a set that covers all aspects of his back catalogue along with making covers by Neil Young and Harry Nielson sound like they could easily have been his own compositions.

There are a couple of tracks aired from the most recent album, which having been given the stripped back treatment show the artists ability to always produce a well written tune alongside old favourites “Last Night I nearly Died” and “Freewheel”, but visually it’s when Temperance Society Chip Bailey gets more involved on “Portrait” and “Salvation Tambourine” that you really appreciate how the pair gel together musically.

There may be a comedy element to the eccentricity of the percussionist but every bang of the drum or use of his whisk/cheese grater combo serves its purpose, the stump fiddle means he can keep a beat whilst standing front of stage and when sat back on his drum stool the array of kit at Chip’s disposal is utilised to feed directly off the piano playing of Duke himself.

Duke Special always enjoys his shows and when throwing the set-list open to requests it didn’t matter that “Flesh and Blood” hadn’t been rehearsed, the intimate crowd enjoying the slight forgetfulness in its lyrics and when Sea and Air returned to the stage for a chaotic version of “Diggin’ an Early Grave” there was certainly a sense of fun in the air before its noisy crash ending, a complete contrast to Duke Special standing on the barrier for a sparse acapella number.

It wasn’t the busiest of nights and I’ve certainly seen Duke Special play to much bigger crowds but for this particular tour it was a show that was definitely one to remember – an artist, singer/songwriter and pianist that may well deserve to be a household name, but one that’s grounded and humble approach is always a pleasure to see live and who’s recorded output has his dedicated fan base excited about what project he is likely to embark on next.  So look out machines, the Duke isn’t done with you yet.