It’s that time of year again where lights across the country are being turned on by z-list celebrities, the x-factor generation are being sucked in by Simon Cowell’s ego and television commercials think there’s still room for another soulless rendition of what was once a classic song by stripping it back to lame vocals over a slow piece of average piano playing… yet within the stone clad walls of Old Portsmouth’s Square Tower there was to be a slightly different and more promising take on festivities, courtesy of Pie & Vinyl and The Retrospective Soundtrack Players.
Opening up proceedings was the talented El Morgan, who has certainly made a name for herself on the local music scene and although there may well be an endless number of acoustic singer songwriters out there, El herself has moved on from her humble open mic beginnings to great effect and if it wasn’t for the need for whisky and hot water between songs her winter cold would have gone unnoticed in a near faultless set.
With the six piece of beer festival favourites The Day of the Rabblement taking to the stage the crowd started to move in from the cold or from filling their stomachs with an array of hot pies on offer to enjoy a good ole fashioned knees up with some up tempo tunes.
The accordion playing of Danny Harmer combined with the mandolin of Ollie Alsford meant there was plenty of thigh slapping folk on offer and whilst The Day of the Rabblement may have their roots based in Portsmouth, when it came to covering “The 12 Days of Christmas” I couldn’t help but think the Irish sounds of the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s “Fairytale of New York” should have been slipped in their somewhere along the way for the ultimate Xmas experience.
It’s been a couple of years since the collective of The Dawn Chorus decided to call it a day and since then frontman Kyle Evans has taken members of his merry men through an even more ambitious musical project with The Retrospective Soundtrack Players, this time taking on the works of Charles Dickens “Christmas Carol” combined with songs to the film “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
As if the record wasn’t enough, performing the new release in its entirety (“It’s a Wonderful Christmas Carol” to give the album its full title) is in itself another challenge for the band as they take on the musical master piece with a handful of live shows.
Yet with a sense of occasion in the air and the fact the festive period is only just round the corner, the tinsel draped over mic stands made for a slightly more subtle approach than Xmas trees and giant inflatables adorning roof tops. So opening up with “I’m Sleeping this Christmas” and the superb “It’s a Wonderful Life” (in which Kyle shows his appreciation for playing in a band, whilst acknowledging it is indeed one with a slightly over the top name) the Christmas references could have gone largely unnoticed if it wasn’t for the “Christmas Carol” section of tonight’s show.
It was this part of the night though when we reached the famous three stages of Charles Dickens “Christmas Carol” that the event really came to life, the vocals may have been a little low but the introduction of El Morgan as the ghost of Christmas past instead of Chris T-T who appears on the record meant for a nice contrast in voices for the first of the guest singers, again showing El’s versatility.
The Retrospective Soundtrack Players have certainly made the most of those on the same label as Frank Turner also makes an appearance as the Ghost of Christmas Present, although this evening is replaced on stage by a slightly angrier young man which again worked really well.
As we approached the third ghost, mince pies were handed around the crowd and the haunting voice of Whit from fellow local outfit B of the Bang helped replace Ben Marwood for “The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (I Can’t be Anybody Else)” and soon enough it was back to the songs inspired by It’s a Wonderful Life.
It will be interesting to see what happens to these songs once the festive period is over as the main set came to an end with “Every Time a Bell Rings an Angel Gets its Wings” and the all too true “No Man is Poor Who Has Friends” which are both great tunes in their own right, so it would be a shame to see them only come out at Christmas.
The new album may have been played in full however there was still time to squeeze in a couple more numbers, including one from the bands’ first album “Cool Hand Luke” and then live favourite “Don’t Let me Disappear” from yet another concept album in their soundtrack to the Catcher and the Rye bringing a rather special night to a close.
