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Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
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RODDY FRAME
Cadogan Hall, Sloane Square, London, November
18th 2008
If
you’re a frequent visitor to Sloane Square
then you’ll no doubt be familiar with the
Cadogan Hall
which lies just to the north on Sloane Terrace.
If like me, you’d rather not go to Chelsea,
then the building would no doubt surprise you
as much as it did me. Designed in the early twentieth
century by Robert Fellowes Chisholm, who spent
much of his career working in India where he pioneered
a style of architecture known as Indo-Saracenic
(it would be easy, though incorrect, to describe
it as ‘Moorish’), which sits uneasily
with the grand residential terraces of South West
London. |
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| It
was built for Mary Baker Eddy’s Church
of Christ, Scientist. According to the Photographer
she was Duane Eddy’s mother. The church originally
housed large congregations before falling into disuse
and disrepair in the 1990s, when it was rescued
by the Cadogan
Estates, becoming the home of the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra. Inside, the huge arched space is somewhat
reminiscent of the Royal Horticultural Hall, though
it doesn’t share the latter’s brutish
concrete modernism. Instead the Indian influences
evident in the exterior are still present –
the décor is a stark white, and on both floors
the seating is church style, highly polished, wooden
benches. And the acoustics are simply fantastic.
“How’s the sound out there?”,
asks Roddy
Frame half way through his performance,
“It’s just brilliant up here”.
He looks as though he could stay up there listening
to his guitar all night. |
| Last
time I reviewed Roddy Frame my editor chastised
me for exceeding my strictly-monitored superlative
allowance, and so for a detailed account of this
show I will refer you to that
review. Not that the set list was the same;
this was more of an extensive trawl through Frame’s
substantial back catalogue (I’m going to play
you some songs I don’t normally get to sing”),
with far less emphasis on his more recent albums,
Surf, and particularly the brilliant Western Skies.
I’m not sure that Frame was better here –
although the sound of his booming guitar was quite
remarkable and certainly far superior to anything
the old Bush could hope to produce, even at its
very best. And I should add that his voice was not
too far behind. Frame was relaxed and chatty –
one could almost have been in his living room (though
the scale of the venue did detract from the sense
of intimacy) – and was particularly happy
to see his chum Edwyn Collins, who was sitting with
his son a couple of rows from us. I’ll leave
it at that. Needless to say, you’re commended
to buy his more recent albums, and if you have a
hole in your collection you should stock up with
the best of Aztec Camera, Frame’s band of
the 80s and 90s. And as for your Christmas shopping,
well if any you have got any spare cash –
unlikely I know in these challenged times –
but if you have, you could always buy me this
wonderful Freshman twelve-string guitar. I’m
sure Mr Frame played one during this gig, and let
me tell you the sound was, as befits the setting,
without imperfection. - Nick Morgan (photographs
by Kate) |
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Check
the index of all reviews:
Nick's Concert Reviews
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There's nothing more down there... |
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