Martyn Joseph is one of few performers whose music deserves to be described as compelling. He manages to make the marriage between words and music seem unbelievably easy.
Listening to his songs, they just seemed too huge to be able to take in all at once. Torn between following the stories in his lyrics or the melody... it was a tough call (the only compromise was to buy a copy of the album after the show, and listen again to those moments missed).
Just one of the songs that stood out in this way was All This Time. Talking about how it takes such a long time to feel comfortable in your own skin, Martyn also spoke of the evolution of his songs and how they had changed over the years as he had performed them live. This was why he had decided to record new acoustic versions on his latest album, Evolved, he said.
His songs Please Sir and Strange Way were also striking, if only for his voice, which was surprisingly powerful, and for those seeing Martyn perform live for the first time, something to remember.
In between songs Martyn told us of his time on tour, including performing with Shirley Bassey at a venue where he was criticised by the audience for wearing denim, travelling in Canada, and how easy it is to write songs for ladies. A discussion about why guitar hobbyists are obsessed with which guitar strings their heroes use also ensued after a bit of re-tuning forced Martyn to replace a broken string (for the record, he uses Elixir).
He certainly put the audience at ease. Although there was a large chunk of the MJ faithful in the audience (they were singing along even before he asked for help on "backing vocals") the rest were not afraid to join in. Martyn was obviously impressed, likening the sound to having your own choir.
With such a warm reception at what was a sell out gig, the prospect of an encore seemed obvious.
Copyright Kate Steaggles, December 2008
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