This gig had a chilled out vibe from beginning to end. It was mellow, yet highly entertaining and completely befitting of a balmy Saturday night in one of the trendiest, most vibrant areas of Liverpool City centre. This was one of the ‘happiest’ concerts I have had the pleasure of reviewing.
The mixed age groups ranging from late twenties upwards were polite, friendly and simply happy to be basking in the gloriously folk-indie sound of Newton Faulkner. Dreadlocked Newton seemed equally as chilled and at ease on stage, so much so that ten minutes into the concert, he decided to scrap his setlist and ask the audience to shout out the songs they would like playing next. Luckily, he later said ‘they all seemed to be on his set list however the order was somewhat different’ from what he had planned. This was highly enjoyable and completely interactive for the delighted audience however, it must have caused the sound technicians and roadies an immeasurable headache.
The accomplished musician, hailing from Reigate, Surrey played a variety of acoustic guitars during his performance. It is always a telling feature of a highly talented artist when they tune and play an array of guitars to suit the song of each song.
Newton’s longevity and phenomenal success as an acoustic artist was evident by the audience enthusiastically chanting the lyrics to all of his songs including his top mainstream hits of Write It On Your Skin, Dream Catch Me and I Need Something, which he performed extended versions of on the night. Faulkner clearly has a penchant for audience participation – before he strummed the first chord or imitated (by mouth or hand) other instrument sounds – he split the audience into three giving them specific lyrics to sing at certain points.
If you are after a highly enjoyable concert, expertly delivered by a super talented musician and lyricist then ensure you catch Newton on the rest of his UK tour.
