Admittedly arriving a little after the 5pm start of The Shacklewell’s ‘All Dayer’ gig event, I made my way through the main pub into a small, intimate venue room, able to find myself a stool in the back left corner.
Guitarist and singer-songwriter Jude McCreath was mid-performance when I entered. My first impression was that it felt as though I had stepped into the 1970’s, upon seeing McCreath sat on an antique stool in a flannel shirt and jeans, sporting long hair. On top of this, the soft yellow lights and small, friendly audience almost made me feel as though we were all sat around a campfire.
McCreath played with an impressive fingerpicking style and sang with soft, reflective vocals. His set of original songs demonstrated some gorgeous chord choices in his songwriting and some subtle variety in his fingerpicking, such as his switches between picking the chords and picking a melody line in unison with his vocals. His vocals had a lovely tone, and felt particularly heartfelt and close-up due to the quiet dynamic, drawing the listeners in. The slight vocal grain on his lower notes added a particularly nice character to his singing.
McCreath was restricted slightly by connection problems with the guitar, meaning he had to stay still so that it wouldn’t start loudly buzzing – he got through this well, and it gave us a chance to hear him speak too. I think it would have been nice to have heard a little about the stories behind the songs, perhaps over the top of his tuning of the guitar between each song, as I think we were all drawn in to McCreath’s very pleasant temperament.
It is always tricky opening for gig events such as this one, and being the first person to set the vibe. McCreath did an excellent job, demonstrating his impressive songwriting skills and having a strong presence with his soft, heartfelt musical style.
Half an hour later I returned to my spot at the back for Gzi Wisdom‘s set. Before Wisdom and her band had even started, I was struck by her confident stage presence, despite the small audience. The band brought an electric energy to the stage instantly with the beat of ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’, with the cherry on top being Wisdom using a guiro frog throughout the song, and said frog having cameos throughout the set. Wisdom and her band never ceased to be visually intriguing throughout the set too, with their funky clothes, the keys guy switching to guitar and tambourine, and Wisdom switching between guitar, no guitar and, of course, the frog.
The band worked around the initial issues with the mix, and by the third song – ‘Mister’ – I felt it was unnatural not to stand up and have a little boogie. This song brought our attention to the saxophonist, as he played a lovely countermelody over the top. A similarly beautiful saxophone melody occurred in the penultimate song, with the guitar and saxophone together almost sounding like someone singing. These little moments of colour were dotted throughout the set, with my favourite being when the drummer and Wisdom sang in harmony – I wrote in my notes that their two higher voices at the top of the texture sounded almost ethereal together.
Wisdom’s charismatic presence absolutely lead the energy of the group, with her vocal abilities continuing to stun, notably in her powerful belt in the second song. She seemed completely at ease throughout the set, engaging with her bandmates (it was particularly good when she turned around to look at the drums mid song) and even using the frog stick as a baton at one point. Wisdom and her bandmates overall made a thrilling performance, leaving me completely buzzing.
I unfortunately couldn’t stick around for the rest of the evening, but three other artists performed – Trout, Thee U.F.O and Doom Club – who I would love to see at future gigs. As Wisdom said at the beginning of her set, the title of the gig being ‘All Dayer’ was slightly misleading, as it only started at 5 in the evening. Regardless of this, I had a very enjoyable time, and hope that McCreath and Wisdom’s wonderful performances are appreciated by larger audiences.
