Ageing Superhero?

Newton Faulkner @ The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London
6th March 2008

So Chalk Farm was the place for the return leg of the gigging xmas presents between me and my friend Nic. A pop gig with serious radio appeal, which also showcases great talent was the show this evening. So after grabbing dinner on the Camden Lock, we rambled down to the Roundhouse, which is exactly that…round!

This being my first visit to the Roundhouse, I feel obliged to sing its praises as a live music venue. This place really has it all, good size for medium to large fan based artists, superb design, clearly had a sparkling refit, yet still retains the rustic charm of the age old cavernous building which once housed a huge turntable to rotate trains. The venue soars high into the night sky and the sound is perfectly resonated throughout the building. The elated atmosphere bounces so perfectly off these walls in abundance!

Newton Faulkner

Newton Faulkner is a rare talent in the current crop pop and radio friendly singer songwriters. For a start he doesn’t take himself to seriously. His rather unique appearance with his ginger dreadlocks plus his amazing talent for crafting superb pop songs with some really inventive stripped down guitar melodies. The full range of acoustic double tapping, body drumming, harmonic pinching, finger picking, with great vocals and amusing comical banter were on show with minimal need for a backing band.

The charm of the oddity on stage was highly evident and with his very funny between track ramblings, you just really like the guy. Faulkner floated through the majority of his debut album with expert ease with the top tracks being Ageing Superhero, I Need Something and Gone In The Morning fresh with an funny extended improvised ba-ba, de-de-lums & do-wop vocal solo.

Where the crowd was lacking here this evening was the knowledge of album tracks as most here were clearly radio one junkies who have heard the singles. Yet Newton engaged all with a stupendous (if not strange) compelling cover version of Bohemian Rhapsody, classic…hmmm! But sadly the time had come to leave so droves of gatherers piled onto the streets with smiles on their faces, a song in their hearts and a spring in their steps, thus is the Faulkner Effect!