I ventured south of the river for the most special of
gigs last Thursday night. A good friend of mine has been touring Europe for the
last 4 months with Australian band, The Wishing Well and they finally landed
in London town. Joe Edwards is almost
single handily responsible for me surviving my cruise ship contract a year ago.
Anyone that has worked on a ship knows that you need a person to keep you sane.
Joe was my person. While I was working in the duo, Joe was entertaining guests
as a guitar vocalist. He may look like the perfect gentlemen but he’s a mean
guitarist and it turns out, a shit hot drummer as well.
The venue, The Half Moon is a charming pub on the corner of
Lower Richmond road in Putney, with a live music room with decades of music tradition.
It wasn't a particularly busy night in the bar/restaurant area but I found the
bar staff particularly friendly and attentive. The burgers were done on the BBQ and were really good. Both food and drink we’re reasonably priced. The Half moon host live music most nights of the week and is definitely worth checking out if you're in the area.
9.30pm: Punters were called to the music room and the show
began. The Wishing Well are a wonderfully international band,originally
hailing from the land down under. They now feature musicians from Oz, Estonia,
Romania and good ole Blighty. When they are not gracing the stages of European venues
and festivals, The Wishing Well can be found on the streets of the world busking for passer byers. Don’t be fooled by their humble demeanor. The Wishing Well
are no small fish. They have independently released 2 albums and have sold over
26,000 C.D’s. The sound is folky, rocky and luscious. Visually there is something
mystical about this band. Maybe it’s the outfits. It’s amazing what a corset
and a ruffled shirt can do.
The mystical feeling intensifies when they begin to play.
This band feel like a family and the audience felt invited in by their stories
and tales of their tour so far. They are almost always on tour and have played
over 5000 gigs in the 5 years since forming. This line up have been living,
eating and playing together continuously throughout their 2013 tour and you can feel
the bond they have (described to me as slightly incestuous but that’s another
story). I enjoyed that each musician had atleast one song in which they had their time to shine and all solo’s came
without a show-off attitude but felt rich and almost emotional. I found myself
watching Joe’s drum solo with a tear in my eye thinking “Oh my god! You’re an f’ing
drummer”. I liked how Jai, the lead singer and guitarist, watched each musician play with the pride of a father watching
his child being born. Strange analogy I know, but I really couldn't describe it
another way. He explained how he felt that songs had a life. A birth, perhaps a
rebellious adolescence and it matures into adulthood. I think the whole room
felt this when they performed "Haunted life". This was my favourite track of the
night and saw Violinist Azita rip the stage apart as she bounced through the
song with such passion and authority. An absolute pleasure to watch. The band
have a great dynamic. Jai’s strong vocals were complimented beautifully by the
angelic voice of pianist Maria. The presence of the Viola, Violin and Cello are
undoubtedly impressive and bring the essence of the band together. The
orchestral tones of the songs really draw the audience in to an almost
spellbinding state. The songs arrangements
are epic, taking us all on a journey. The story telling techniques mirror those
of an old gypsy tale. This was particularly true in “Cease fire”. I really loved this song. The intro
from Cellist Natasha made me feel like we should have been gathered around a
fire in a forest. There's an intense crescendo in the song that force the audience to emote. The performance throughout the set felt really genuine. There
is something about this band that made me want to throw on a corset, grab a
fiddle and join the party.
The pictures are courtesy of their very own photographer/
sound guy Sam James- Griffiths. He has taken some really cool shots throughout the tour. Here are a
few more of my favourites.
The Wishing Well have 2 U.K dates left this year, both in Dorset before they move on to Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Belgium. Check out their website, Facebook page and YouTube channel for dates, videos and more info.
No comments:
Post a Comment