Bruuuce.com - tour reports

Venue: London, UK - September 12/13 2004

Bruce followed up his "Invasion of the Brits" Halcyon Days with some shows for the Brits - our old friend Carwyn Fowler has contributed the following report; gratefully accepted:

As a UK-based Hornsbyhead, I didn’t think I’d ever get to say this:

“Another year, another Hornsby gig”.

The magic-dust had barely settled from last year’s gig in Camden’s Jazz Café as, one year later, me and my wife arrived into Paddington station for a double-header at the UCL Bloomsbury theatre. Such was the intensity of last year’s Camden gig, we wondered if this gig would ever be able to ‘match’ the previous one. My anticipation grew 90 minutes before the first gig, as I caught a distant snatch of Bruce practising ‘Heir Gordon’ whilst I was collecting my tickets at the box office.

I probably made the mistake of setting myself an unfair expectation for the Bloomsbury gigs. The Camden gig was memorable for its spontaneity (only 2 weeks notice of the gig, after an eight-year absence). Moreover, the Camden Jazz Café provided a rare level of intimacy with the club packed to the rafters, with some fans able to absorb the mesmerising action from superb overhead angles.

Nevertheless, the Bloomsbury gigs were, no doubt, ‘first time’ gigs for many in this Hornsby-starved UK audience. For them, this gig would have been as enthralling to them as the Camden gig was for me. It certainly would have been for the 10-year old fan who was called up to the stage at the beginning of the first gig, to be given an exclusive recital of ‘Spider Fingers’ in her own chair next to the piano; also for Si Twining, who was mysteriously called up onto the stage in the middle of instrumental ‘Song F’ to help Bruce by whipping out the sheet music from Hornsby’s song file. Now how cool is that?

The Bloomsbury gig was set in a theatre, so there was a greater distance, and perhaps more formality in the relationship, between Bruce on stage and the audience in the stalls. The applause at the end of songs tended to be polite rather than rapturous, and there was perhaps less scope for the incessant banter that characterises some of Bruce’s more spontaneous shows.

Overall, the two shows were fairly similar in tone. This explains why I am treating them as if they were one gig in in this review. In both shows, the theatre was darkened so the light fell exclusively on Bruce and his piano. Both shows started with an interesting openins. The pre-show background music was of a southern gospel style, and on both occasions Bruce took his cue from the CD music by playing what I assume to be African-American gospel standards: ‘Peace in the Valley’ and ‘How far am I from Canaan’.

An enjoyable aspect of both gigs was that they contained a selection of pretty much all of Bruce’s recorded output. I originally got into Bruce through Scenes from the Southside (1988) and was delighted by an impeccable performance of ‘The Show Goes On’ – including the pretty piano bits at the start (Even though I had to content myself with humming the concluding Marinelli guitar solo quietly to myself). On another personal note, I was glad when he played a request for ‘The River Runs Low’; I have just finished 7 years on the road as a touring street busker: this song reminds me of a period a few years ago when times were tight personally and financially.

Bruce was brutally candid in his appraisal that most of the UK audience would have only ever heard of about two of his songs - at most. He joked that many still ask him: ‘How’s the Range?!’ Nevertheless, Bruce delighted the ‘ultra-orthodox’ contingent in both gigs with “The Way it is” and “End of the Innocence”; he also belted out ‘Mandolin Rain’ in the early stages of the second gig. Judging by the audible requests, it would seem that ‘Fortunate Son’ is almost as established as a crowd-pleasing Hornsby standard.

The general tempo of both gigs, however, was set by work from the more recent ‘Spirit Trail’ and ‘Halcyon Days’ CDs, although only one track, Sticks and Stones, featured from the less successful album in between: Big Swing Face. Again, Bruce was quite candid in his comments that the release BSF had split the opinions of his fans right down the middle. Altogether, Bruce played about half a dozen of the new tracks from Halcyon Days (my own personal favourite is “Dreamland”). Halcyon Days adds a definite sophistication to the ‘new Hornsby’ setlist; although it is my opinion that the ‘Spirit Trail’ groove which best sums up Bruce’s playing in the 00s, especially the distinctively southern gospel / bluegrass overtones of Preacher in the Ring and King of the Hill. For some reason I think Bruce seems more at home in the Spirit Trail stuff.

I really enjoyed the beginning of set 2, show 2. I simply wasn’t expecting ‘Walk in the sun’ and ‘Harbor Lights’ to be played straight up, no frills. I belive the Hot House / Harbor Lights CDs were an outstanding and important stage in Bruce Hornsby’s artistic output, but in danger of being overlooked in the fans’ enthusiasm to hear stuff from ‘The Way it is’ on the one hand, and the *very* recent stuff on the other. I hope Bruce will at some stage return to a swing vibe (after he’s done a bluegrass album first!).

The only definitely weak point of the two gigs for me was ‘Fire on the Cross’. Bruce himself joked that some of the early songs were too high for him – and it showed in this song. Message to fans: please stop requesting ‘Fire on the Cross’. I’m not disputing the lyrical content, which deals with a very serious political issue. In musical terms, however, the song (in its current key, which forces Hornsby’s upper vocal register), has become a bit of a drag to be brutally honest. Another aspect which I’m not entirely enamoured with is the repeated playing of bitonal and classical ‘teases’ in the middle of songs. However, I know that some fans really dig this and I’m probably just an old grouch.

Otherwise, both gigs will live in the memory, as the chances to see Hornsby in action are few and far between. The two standing ovations clearly demonstrated the affection in which Bruce is held by his long-standing supporters. Hornsby baffled the second audience by failing to appear for an encore at the end of the second gig. Si Twining has subsequently reported that tendonitis was to blame.

But being hyper-critical for a second, surely a performer of Bruce’s experience would have foreseen this problem? In retrospect, Bruce might have engineered a smoother, more satisfactory ending by ditching the complex ‘King of the Hill’ (and those classical teases!). In this way, Bruce would have had enough in reserve for an encore (or even two), just a couple of softer ballads to perfectly round off the evening for those fans in the audience watching their first Hornsby gig.

After the second gig, there was some discussion among a group of Hornsbyheads as to whether Bruce had actually displayed some frustration (even bitterness?) towards his UK audience, by way of his remarks about not being able to fund a gig in Europe with his band. I don’t know what the situation is on this point. What I do know is that both gigs ended with enthusiastic standing ovations. Surely, Bruce will appreciate that even though we are not large in numbers, our depth of support and our loyalty to his music remains as strong as ever in Europe. We are so lucky to be fans of an artist who continues to play the music he wants to play, long after his chart music heyday has passed.

More importantly, Hornsby’s kind gesture to the young girl at the start of the first gig shows a rare, refreshing sense of kindness, decency and human ‘ordinaryness’ that today’s manufactured pop ‘idols’ would do well to learn from. Hopefully, Bruce will be back again for another gig, though whether he brings his fabulous band remains to be seen. At any rate, Bruce still has that second encore to conclude!

Thanks Bruce!


		Tour reports - I'd love to hear about any shows you've been to, recent or distant. If you'd like to share, please mail anything to me, and I'll see that it goes straight up with full credit.
	Venue: London, UK - September 12/13 2004 Bruce followed up his "Invasion of the Brits" Halcyon Days with some shows for the Brits - our old friend Carwyn Fowler has contributed the following report; gratefully accepted: As a UK-based Hornsbyhead, I didn’t think I’d ever get to say this: “Another year, another Hornsby gig”. The magic-dust had barely settled from last year’s gig in Camden’s Jazz Café as, one year later, me and my wife arrived into Paddington station for a double-header at the UCL Bloomsbury theatre. Such was the intensity of last year’s Camden gig, we wondered if this gig would ever be able to ‘match’ the previous one. My anticipation grew 90 minutes before the first gig, as I caught a distant snatch of Bruce practising ‘Heir Gordon’ whilst I was collecting my tickets at the box office. I probably made the mistake of setting myself an unfair expectation for the Bloomsbury gigs. The Camden gig was memorable for its spontaneity (only 2 weeks notice of the gig, after an eight-year absence). Moreover, the Camden Jazz Café provided a rare level of intimacy with the club packed to the rafters, with some fans able to absorb the mesmerising action from superb overhead angles. Nevertheless, the Bloomsbury gigs were, no doubt, ‘first time’ gigs for many in this Hornsby-starved UK audience. For them, this gig would have been as enthralling to them as the Camden gig was for me. It certainly would have been for the 10-year old fan who was called up to the stage at the beginning of the first gig, to be given an exclusive recital of ‘Spider Fingers’ in her own chair next to the piano; also for Si Twining, who was mysteriously called up onto the stage in the middle of instrumental ‘Song F’ to help Bruce by whipping out the sheet music from Hornsby’s song file. Now how cool is that? The Bloomsbury gig was set in a theatre, so there was a greater distance, and perhaps more formality in the relationship, between Bruce on stage and the audience in the stalls. The applause at the end of songs tended to be polite rather than rapturous, and there was perhaps less scope for the incessant banter that characterises some of Bruce’s more spontaneous shows. Overall, the two shows were fairly similar in tone. This explains why I am treating them as if they were one gig in in this review. In both shows, the theatre was darkened so the light fell exclusively on Bruce and his piano. Both shows started with an interesting openins. The pre-show background music was of a southern gospel style, and on both occasions Bruce took his cue from the CD music by playing what I assume to be African-American gospel standards: ‘Peace in the Valley’ and ‘How far am I from Canaan’. An enjoyable aspect of both gigs was that they contained a selection of pretty much all of Bruce’s recorded output. I originally got into Bruce through Scenes from the Southside (1988) and was delighted by an impeccable performance of ‘The Show Goes On’ – including the pretty piano bits at the start (Even though I had to content myself with humming the concluding Marinelli guitar solo quietly to myself). On another personal note, I was glad when he played a request for ‘The River Runs Low’; I have just finished 7 years on the road as a touring street busker: this song reminds me of a period a few years ago when times were tight personally and financially. Bruce was brutally candid in his appraisal that most of the UK audience would have only ever heard of about two of his songs - at most. He joked that many still ask him: ‘How’s the Range?!’ Nevertheless, Bruce delighted the ‘ultra-orthodox’ contingent in both gigs with “The Way it is” and “End of the Innocence”; he also belted out ‘Mandolin Rain’ in the early stages of the second gig. Judging by the audible requests, it would seem that ‘Fortunate Son’ is almost as established as a crowd-pleasing Hornsby standard. The general tempo of both gigs, however, was set by work from the more recent ‘Spirit Trail’ and ‘Halcyon Days’ CDs, although only one track, Sticks and Stones, featured from the less successful album in between: Big Swing Face. Again, Bruce was quite candid in his comments that the release BSF had split the opinions of his fans right down the middle. Altogether, Bruce played about half a dozen of the new tracks from Halcyon Days (my own personal favourite is “Dreamland”). Halcyon Days adds a definite sophistication to the ‘new Hornsby’ setlist; although it is my opinion that the ‘Spirit Trail’ groove which best sums up Bruce’s playing in the 00s, especially the distinctively southern gospel / bluegrass overtones of Preacher in the Ring and King of the Hill. For some reason I think Bruce seems more at home in the Spirit Trail stuff. I really enjoyed the beginning of set 2, show 2. I simply wasn’t expecting ‘Walk in the sun’ and ‘Harbor Lights’ to be played straight up, no frills. I belive the Hot House / Harbor Lights CDs were an outstanding and important stage in Bruce Hornsby’s artistic output, but in danger of being overlooked in the fans’ enthusiasm to hear stuff from ‘The Way it is’ on the one hand, and the very recent stuff on the other. I hope Bruce will at some stage return to a swing vibe (after he’s done a bluegrass album first!). The only definitely weak point of the two gigs for me was ‘Fire on the Cross’. Bruce himself joked that some of the early songs were too high for him – and it showed in this song. Message to fans: please stop requesting ‘Fire on the Cross’. I’m not disputing the lyrical content, which deals with a very serious political issue. In musical terms, however, the song (in its current key, which forces Hornsby’s upper vocal register), has become a bit of a drag to be brutally honest. Another aspect which I’m not entirely enamoured with is the repeated playing of bitonal and classical ‘teases’ in the middle of songs. However, I know that some fans really dig this and I’m probably just an old grouch. Otherwise, both gigs will live in the memory, as the chances to see Hornsby in action are few and far between. The two standing ovations clearly demonstrated the affection in which Bruce is held by his long-standing supporters. Hornsby baffled the second audience by failing to appear for an encore at the end of the second gig. Si Twining has subsequently reported that tendonitis was to blame. But being hyper-critical for a second, surely a performer of Bruce’s experience would have foreseen this problem? In retrospect, Bruce might have engineered a smoother, more satisfactory ending by ditching the complex ‘King of the Hill’ (and those classical teases!). In this way, Bruce would have had enough in reserve for an encore (or even two), just a couple of softer ballads to perfectly round off the evening for those fans in the audience watching their first Hornsby gig. After the second gig, there was some discussion among a group of Hornsbyheads as to whether Bruce had actually displayed some frustration (even bitterness?) towards his UK audience, by way of his remarks about not being able to fund a gig in Europe with his band. I don’t know what the situation is on this point. What I do know is that both gigs ended with enthusiastic standing ovations. Surely, Bruce will appreciate that even though we are not large in numbers, our depth of support and our loyalty to his music remains as strong as ever in Europe. We are so lucky to be fans of an artist who continues to play the music he wants to play, long after his chart music heyday has passed. More importantly, Hornsby’s kind gesture to the young girl at the start of the first gig shows a rare, refreshing sense of kindness, decency and human ‘ordinaryness’ that today’s manufactured pop ‘idols’ would do well to learn from. Hopefully, Bruce will be back again for another gig, though whether he brings his fabulous band remains to be seen. At any rate, Bruce still has that second encore to conclude! Thanks Bruce!