Gig #3 2011 Teddy Thompson and David Ford The Sage Gateshead

I must confess that I have cheated already on my vow to only go to see artists that I haven't seen before by going to this gig, as the only reason I went to the gig was to see David Ford who I have seen before. I wouldn't have really mattered who was the headline act, I would have still gone. I can justify this on the basis that I haven't seen Teddy Thompson before but and this fits within my 2011 vow, but I think I'll be tested again soon as I really want to go and see Elbow again and I have seen them on a number of occasions so......

Right back to the gig David Ford was playing 45 minutes solo prior to joining Teddy as part of his band, and strolled out to a good sized audience a lot of which had come to see him play. Although alone David doesn't allow the lack of numbers on stage to handicap him into only playing one instrument, some songs are build using a loop machine to tape instruments and backing vocals so that by the end of a song you could have a dozen instruments and a full choir of vocals supporting David. Before the gig all I could think of was what would David play in such a short set, he started with Nothing At All from his new album, Let The Hard Times Roll, shacking 2 old brief cases filled with rattles and using another old case as a bass drum this was a brave start that silenced the whole of the audience and had them captivated for the whole of the set. What followed was just genius, love songs for Margaret Thatcher (She's Not The One) political observation State Of The Nation, and some of the most intelligent lyrics you will hear. It's hard for me to pick favourites from this short set but, Songs For The Road, To Hell With The World, I Don't Care What You Call Me and the aforementioned State Of The Nation were all amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_aQ8yRVexM check out this version of State Of The Union and you'll get a feel of what David Ford is about.

Teddy Thompson was good, not great but good, a mix of styles sometimes left me a bit confused and the drums seemed to high in the mix but I enjoyed the set, Looking For A Girl is a great little pop song, and an encore of Super Trooper by Abba was a surprise.

So would I go and see Teddy Thompson again, only if David Ford was support, would I go and see David Ford again, absolutely in a heartbeat, if you get a chance go and see him!