Venue: the chameleon Nottingham
Date: 17 November 2013
Support: Joe Slater, Isaac, The Cut Ups
Disclaimer... this may be a slightly biased review as Franz is one of my favourite musicians.
So the first of a busy week of gigs and tonight was Franz Nicolay. Franz is from Brooklyn NY and has played in some amazing bands namely The Hold Steady and Against Me! But has also produced some amazing solo albums that have made me appreciate different styles of music and instruments along with some amazing lyrics.
Tonight was a new venue The Chameleon cafe bar in Nottingham it was a small venue with a kind of house party vibe, if the walls were covered with more fly posters and stickers etc it would be ace.
First up tonight was Joe Slater and acoustic musician playing songs I guess in a Billy Bragg style, songs with some meaning and a bit of angst thrown in. The music was alright but he had to cut his set short with the I guess was a bit of arm pump a sign he hasn't been playing his guitar enough! I know that feeling.
Next up Isaac, a Nottingham based band fronted by Shankland (big thanks to him for putting on the show) I have seen him a few times around notts supporting various bands playing solo and acoustic and remember him playing a good version of To have and have not the old BIlly Bragg song at a venue I don't really get on with The Maze. Anyway this was the first time with his band Isaac who were a bit more punky and they showed a lot of promise actually.
Next up The Cut Ups + Franz Nicolay. Tonight was a bit different The Cut Ups would be playing their set with Franz playing keys and then they would play musical band members and The Cut Ups would be the backing band for Franz.
I'm sure I should know more about The Cut Ups and they seemed fairly familiar but I'm not sure how, if that makes sense. Anyway they were pretty good some nice interaction along with some great songs, when you have a song called last night I dreamt I saw fugazi to be honest with me you are already half way there, with the fact that fugazi are possibly the greatest and most important band ever,well in my mind anyway.
After a quick turned around it was time for Franz to take the stage. In my opinion Franz is one of the finest musicians around bringing together different styles of music with an array of instruments including banjo, guitar, keys, accordion. Tonight would be slightly different though as it would be the first time I have seen Franz with a backing band starting of with a blinding version of The Hearts of Boston, the opening track from his latest album Do the struggle. Blasting through a few new songs including one written about Mongolian neo nazis, hardly the greatest starting point for a song but you know with Franz it's gonna work and a few others like Frankie Stubbs tears, Did your broken heart make you who you are and ending with the classic Jeff Penalty about when the dead Kennedy's reformed without jello.
The only complaint I have was no banjo songs! Which ment no version of the cracking migration of the cuckoo.
Anyway Franz is an amazing musician who writes songs that I can totally resonate with and should get far more credit, exposure and reward for his songwriting I for one thought can't wait till the not only the next record but the next show.
Give Franz a chance because he's a cracking musician and song writer.
No comments:
Post a Comment