John Smith - St Pancras New Church, London (15/11/18)
THE LONDON ROOTS FESTIVAL
Line-up: John Smith with special guest Rose Cousins
Date: 15th November, 2018
Venue: St. Pancras New Church, London
Review By: Gary Smith (LCM)
The wonderful sold out Neoclassic and Greek Revival style St. Pancras New Church in London provided the perfect setting for the London leg of John Smith new ‘Hummingbird’ album tour. It was also the latest show in the very popular and high quality London Roots Festival series.
John has quickly built a reputation as one of the UK’s finest guitarists and singer-songwriters. He is originally from Essex but now based in sunny Devon. With an fantastic show and a great backing band including the very talented Sam Sweeney (Bellowhead), John certainly brought his ‘A-game’ back to London. His new album was produced by Sam Lakeman’s in his Somerset studio in March of 2018.
Opening up the show was the very talented indie Juno winning Canadian singer-songwriter Rose Cousins, who is currently based in Halifax in Nova Scotia. Born and raised on the beautiful Prince Edward Island, Rose’s song were highly engaging, heartfelt, thought provoking and highly crafted. Playing solo with a set that included songs from her 2017 Grammy nominated release ‘Natural Conclusion', Rose opened with the reflective and atmospheric ‘Freedom’. An ode dedicated to her mum and sister who both own potato farms was the wonderful piano based ‘Farmer’s Wife’. Rose mentioned that the next thought provoking song ‘Tender is The Man’ is about relieving men of the shame of having emotions. Giving permission for them to have feelings. Learning through experience and applying that wisdom is the central theme of the beautiful ‘Grace’. Played on piano this was an fantastic intimate experience and one you caught get easily caught up in the moment. Moving into her ukulele ‘Love Comes Back Around’, with it’s audience sing-a-long refrain worked very well. Rose completed her very impressive set with another beautiful song ‘Chosen’, the opening track of her latest album.
After a short break John Smith and his band took to the stage to showcase his new album ‘Hummingbird’ and share some old favourites for good measure.
It was only fitting that the opening song way was the lovely title track of his new release ‘Hummingbird’. This was followed very orderly by the album’s second track the traditional folk song ‘Lowlands of Holland’ (Roud 484), A young wife tells her story about her husband who has died in the navy at the wars in Holland. It’s an anti-war song dealing with love, pride and regret. John’s rich, honeyed voice certainly hits you first, quickly followed by the gentle and intricate playing style.
Deviating from the new release, John played a great version of ‘Perfect Storm’, taken from his ‘Great Lakes’ album. Back to the new album for another tradition folk song ‘Hares On the mountain’, a Southern English ballad originally published by Cecil Sharp.
Described by John as the ultimate Essex girl, the next track featured the story of ‘Boudica’. It’s a brooding and powerful piece about the Queen of the Celtic Iceni tribe who let loose on the Romans back around 60AD. The low murmured intro to this one coupled with the subtlest of violin lines does wonders to bring a hushed atmosphere to a tale of war and fear. Sam joined John next to play an old folk song about death (a very popular subject), the trans-Atlantic folk favourite ‘Willy Moore’. The enthralling murder ballad ‘Axe Mountain’ revisited on the new album, tells the tale of mass murderer Lester Joseph Cale and his trail of death and destruction. A real bloodthirsty crowd pleaser.
Written for a friend who was having a very hard time was the heartfelt ‘Far To Good’. The great travelling song ‘Joanna’ also taken from ‘Headlong’ flowed beautifully into the Van Morrison classic ‘Tupelo Honey’. John then joked that ‘there is only one thing worst than a folk song and that’s a country song’. The next track was described as a country eavesdropping record. The opening track from ‘Great Lakes’ is the beautifully written and reflective ‘There Is A Stone. One of my personal favourites from John’s ‘Headlong’ album is the stunning ‘Save My Life’. With it’s Van Morrison vibes, it’s quite simply a beautifully written classic…..a song to get completely lost in.
We were treated next to one of John’s older songs ‘To Have So Many’, taken from his 2010 ‘The Fox and The Monk’. To complete the main set John played the title track of the ‘Great Lakes’ album. There was very little doubt that John and the band won’t be invited back for their well deserved encore.
Playing solo with his acoustic guitar John begun the encore set with ‘Lord Franklin’ (Roud 487), a traditional folk ballad recounting the story of a sailor who dreams about Lady Franklin speaking of the loss of her husband. Sir John Franklin disappeared in Baffin Bay during his 1845 expedition through the Arctic Ocean in search of the Northwest Passage sea route to the Pacific ocean. John said that the song was the one which started his interest in folk music.
John was then joined on stage by the full band for a wonderful version of the marvelous ‘Salty and Sweet’ from his ‘Great Lakes’ album. It’s a homage to the town in which he grew up. A standing ovation at the end of the set tells you all your need to know about the high quality of this gig.
‘Hummingbird’ is John Smith’s most impressive album to date. It is a work of great maturity and wonderful subtle beauty. St Pancras New Church provided the perfect place to showcase it.
As John aptly said ‘I made this record for myself, for my heroes and for you’.
Photo credit: Hannah Scott
John and his very talented band at the end of the tour.