The Sheffield Scenester

On arriving early at this event we were given an extended tour of this historic building by Mike Trott, the chairman of the Friends of Abbeydale Picture House Board of Trustees, and a general summary of what work was needed as well as a bit of history on the place. Here are a few aspects of the buildings

This brings us neatly round to the actual charity show itself, the stalls which traditionally would have held rows of seating was a bare sloped floor with numerous tables and chairs spread around. The audience was quite a cross section of people, consisting of the usual young crowd that we’ve seen at various gigs across Sheffield as well as the more mature crowd who were here for the charity as well as the music....we did in fact recognise quite a few from the Dead Like Harry performance at The Library Theatre last December!

To get the evening started was Scoundrel, a group we’ve seen several times before and enjoyed the sound of their easy going but intelligently crafted soulful pop. Unfortunately the thing that has always been detrimental to their set, through no fault of their own, is the PA system as they, like all the artists tonight, do in fact require a much more sensitive delivery. In this theatre, however, the sound system seemed purpose built for their melodic output; this was more than evident in the case of lead singer Megan’s vocals. For the first time her voice had real power and conviction, frankly I was bowled over as she belted out tune after tune. As if I didn’t need convincing anymore the whole band seemed to have raised their game delivering a vibrant and exciting performance, and with songs like the irresistibly catchy ‘Taste’, which is distinctly reminiscent of The Beautiful South as well as a rockier version of the song ‘Losing My Name (Young Tiger)’...this may have been due more to the acoustics rather than anything else! It was safe to say that they kicked the evening off to a brilliant start. They finished their outstanding set with the upbeat and extremely catchy song ‘Lie To Me’ which brought a huge round of applause from the near full house.

Following Scoundrel was another one of our favourite soft vocally led groups, Feelix. Having got used to seeing lead singer Kat Eaton seduce the microphone with her delicate velvet tones, it did actually make a change to see her behind a keyboard for this performance, but then again they were down to three people tonight! In no way did this detract from their traditional set as the quality of their jazz infused soul seemed to open them up to a more laid back show, with Kat definitely in the mood for a bit of banter with the audience! Also on stage was Nick Atkinson who with his dynamic skill on the guitar really brings their sound together, especially when he is given free reign to do one of his showpiece solo’s and tonight was no exception! It was obvious how much the crowd enjoyed the performance as not only did they clap along to several songs but at one point Kat prompted everybody to click their fingers to one of their tunes....to which they obviously obliged! With a huge round of applause from the audience this evening was just getting better by the minute.

Next up on the running order was Neil McSweeny...who we had previously seen perform an acoustic set at The Porterbrook, so this was the first time we were to hear him with a full band. This obviously gave him a rockier sound which really enhanced his everyday musings on life, his song topics ranged from his family to another one about London Road, from what we could gather this one relates the story about where Chesterfield Road and London Road split, an obscure subject for a song, but with a delicate guitar and great lyrics it didn’t matter since it was a truly entrancing song to hear in this environment. On his final track, ‘Postcards’ Neil had a few problems with his electric guitar so rather amusingly queried the audience “Can you all hear me in acoustic?” it was one of his best tunes of the night and amazingly, as well as deservedly, the floor erupted with loud cheers from the audience, a few of whom had even stood up to show their appreciation.

The final act of the night was the ever popular and to be honest, one of the best live acts in Sheffield, Dead Like Harry, a status they truly deserve! With their trademark and highly energetic folk rock driving each song along, the audience just has to stand and gaze in wonder as this sextet ladle out some of the catchiest and upbeat tunes around. Bass player Robin Baker who is usually quite content to chuck himself about the stage with an almost complete disregard for everyone else in the band actually got to stand still as he swapped to an electric double bass for the song, ‘Wicker Chair’. They played a new song, ‘Where Do You Go?’, this was an excellent song with its soft vocals and delicate harmonies, it possessed an almost Clapton-esque style to it, not to dissimilar to his classic ‘Wonderful Tonight’. As ever they finished their set with the truly outstanding track ‘Satellite’, looking across the crowd you could see them all singing along or tapping and clapping to the beat. It was a given that they would do an encore so sure enough with the highly evocative ‘Cross The Water’, followed by the final track of the evening ‘Cherry Street’ which had a few people dancing in the aisles!

It was an amazing evening, and the acoustics in the theatre brought out the best in everyone as they all sounded better than I’ve ever heard them before. This alone is a reason to save such a building and restore it to its former glory, we at The Sheffield Scenester would happily pay to see more concerts in this venue if this is the standard to be expected.

Of course none of this would have been possible without the work of Joolz Vernon, who took it upon himself to showcase one of his famous Soundclash gigs here and donate the profits to The Abbeydale Picture House to help towards its restoration.

Nearly a month after the original concert on Friday 13th August 2010, in the presence of various band members from that memorable night, Joolz Vernon proudly presented a cheque for £1000 to Anne Trott as well as other members of The Friends of the Abbeydale Picture House.

Words & photos by Geoff and Gail Buckthorpe

Further Photography by
Michael Riley