Entangle me in verses of poetry, Avert my gaze from the darkest of darkest days

Friday 16 October – If there’s one thing that you can expect at a Hope&Social gig, it’s the unexpected! And so here we are at Fibbers, slightly wetting ourselves with anticipation of a great night out.

The first support band are Rosie from Pateley Bridge, consisting of; Doug Wallace (vocals and rhythm guitar), Tommy Leatherbarrow (drums and backing vocals), and Louis Leatherbarrow (keyboards). It’s hard to describe their style of music so I can do no better than quote someone else who said “bouncy electro-powered party punk”. It’s not as bad as it sounds. Despite the fact that I don’t really go for electronica as a musical genre they certainly had me tapping my toes, and dare I say it, swaying slightly to the music. They also seem to have a small entourage of crazy dancers, one dressed as a banana, who fling themselves about a bit in the audience. It was all very good fun and quite entertaining.

The second support band was people: inairports who we had seen before in November 2010, and not been much impressed with on that occasion. Formed by ex-Shed Seven bassist Tom Gladwin, they also comprise singer/songwriter and guitarist Paul Downes along with Jimmy Greenall (guitar & backing vocals), and Ken Sayers (drums). Sadly they sounded pretty much as they did nearly a year ago, a tired string of Jam-esque indie pub-rock songs. To be honest, I would much rather have an extended H&S set.

With three albums under their collective belts, Leeds-based Hope&Social have a wide range of material to call upon. Please don’t expect me to reel off a complete track listing of all the songs that they delighted us with, because their act is so much more than just the songs. There was the running on the spot, the bearded Gary Stewart a-likes, the banter with the audience, the maniacal pounding of keyboards and super-heavy guitar riffs, barber-shop style harmonies, brass section, sing-alongs… you name it, it probably happened. If you’ve never seen this band before, do it. If you want to listen to them, you can do it online, for free. And , if you want to buy their music, you can, and you only have to pay what you want. Crazy? Only if you never get around to seeing/hearing them. But, I do not like green eggs and ham. Try it, try it, you will see...

It's been one week since you looked at me, Cocked your head to the side and said I'm angry

Friday 14 October – We haven’t been out to watch bands recently, just a bit busy with other stuff at the moment, but there’s a lot of good music about this month and we are determined to catch as much as we can.

Four of us turned out tonight at Fibbers to watch Chantel McGregor. My party arrived at about eight o’clock just in time to catch the final three songs from Patrick McCallion. OK, he was one man and his guitar, but he sounded fresh and enthusiastic. I think one of the songs was called Neon Lights, one I am reliably informed was One Week (by The Barenaked Ladies’) and his final offering was a medley of covers woven into each other. This left Chantel with a good two hour set to fill and I have to admit that I was really looking forward to this, and we moved right up close to the barrier for an optimal viewing position.

We last saw Chantel back in December 2010 when she played a good deal of her own material that would make up her debut album, Like No Other. It seems as if I’ve had this album for ever but I seem recall that it was only released in April. In fact, this has been a great year for Chantel so far; she won Best Young Artist at the British Blues Awards. Chantel’s band, as last time we saw her, consisted of Martin Rushworth on drums and Richard Ritchie playing a gorgeous looking 5-string bass.

The set kicked off with Bridge To Better Days (Joe Bonamassa) which segued into New Day Yesterday (Jethro Tull). After that I was a bit mesmerised by her superb guitar playing. Among the covers I recognised Up In The Sky (Joe Satriani), Sloe Gin (Joe Bonamassa), Daydream (Robin Trower), High (Richie Kotzen), Red House (Jimi Hendrix), Rhiannon and  Landslide (Fleetwood Mac),  and Had To Cry Today (Blind Faith). From her own material we also heard; Like No Other, Fabulous, Caught Out, Screams Everlasting, I’m No Good For You, and for the encore, Freefalling.

Chantel and the band are so comfortable with their material that on a couple of occasions they asked the audience what they wanted to hear. I’m sure that all the songs were on the set list, but it made everyone feel involved in the performance. Between songs Chantel regaled us with quirky glimpses into her life, all of which endeared her even more to an audience that loved every second of her playing. 

I did manage to fumble my mobile ‘phone out a couple of times to capture some video footage, but only succeeded in videoing my foot twice and her once with no sound. Duh! Oh well, you’ll just have to trust me when I say that you really, really must see this girl live before she transcends to stadium gigs and you’ll have missed your chance to say “I remember when she first started and I saw her…”