Thursday, 25 October 2012

Newton Faulkner

Newton Faulkner Live Review 
October 3rd 2012 at O2 ABC Glasgow
With his new album going straight to number 1 Newton Faulkner is definitely one of the most humble and down to earth musicians I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. We got to hang with him for a little before his show in Glasgow at the O2 ABC and we also stuck around to see the show.

As soon as the one man band stepped foot on the stage the crowd were roaring at him in admiration. This was going to be a great gig. He kicked off the night with ‘Pulling Teeth’ and in an instant his fans were singing along and bobbing their heads. There was such a huge mix of people at this event, it was awesome to see so many people come together and support Newton. After performing a few songs, then came ‘People Should Smile More’. He introduced the song with his famous story about him trying to help an older woman with her bags in an airport, but the woman just seen a ‘yeti’ as he put it and hit him with her bag. It gives us an insight into the inspiration behind the lyrics, he sings ‘I can’t change the world, cos trying to make a difference makes it worse’. It perfectly sums up his situation at that point.

As the night went on, Newton kept the crowd involved by having silly banter with us in between performing and sipping tea which he kept in a tea pot inside his little globe table. It was only at this point I noticed he didn’t have any shoes or socks on. He joked that if more of us came to the gig he could maybe afford shoes. He had everyone in awe, he had everyone laughing and has one of the best stage presences I’ve witnessed to date.

Newton went on to perform such hits as ‘Clouds’, ‘Sugar in the snow’ and ‘Brick by Brick’ whilst in between performing other songs from ‘Write it on your skin’ and his rendition of ‘Payphone’ which was a crowd pleaser. The way he can take a song and make it his own is beyond me, he is one talented guy! He done the same thing with ‘Teardrop’ which has over 3,350,000 views on YouTube alone, it was as though he’d written the song he performed it so greatly.  He continued on, performing ‘Dream catch me’ which was just one giant sing-a-long-a-newton. It was clear the crowd were loving every moment of it.

Finally he went on to perform his title track ‘Write it on your skin’ which completely blew me away, I loved each and every song he performed but this was my personal favourite both from the album and to see live. He just sings it so perfectly and everyone can see that as they’re still hanging on his every lyric, bobbing heads everywhere. He then finished with ‘Pick up your broken heart’ which was a great song to end on, everyone sang along and it was such a powerful performance, it was as though nothing else mattered in the room apart from your voice and his. If you were having a bad day, you definitely weren’t anymore.

This was a truly great event to be part of. It had everything, the music, the chat, the humor and the tea... oh and Newton of course. You just kinda want him to be your spooning partner, am I right?! :) 

If you haven’t checked out Newton Faulkner yet, you should, you'll be happy you did.

-newcitylauren

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