On Monday night, Neil Hannon and his delightful band took to the stage at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. With the walls adorned with draped fabric and a wide variety of instruments upon the stage waiting to be played, you could the anticipation buzz around the room.
Now, I must admit, I am not within Neils average listening age, so the experience of having a completely seated audience is completely new to me, but I found this to be so much more enjoyable. Being able to sit (or stand) without thirty people behind you is a blessing and it allowed me to focus on the music being played.
Neil’s band was first to enter the stage, all taking their designated places behind the assortment of instruments – Ian Watson with not just a keyboard in front of him, but occasionally an accordion, Lucy Wilkins on the violin, Andrew Skeet sat patiently behind his piano, on the double bass and cello, and Simon Little & Tim Weller who strategically switched between drums and percussion.
Soon after the band was settled came Neil Hannon himself, waltzing onto stage with his fedora firmly covering his eyes from the bright lights. The crowd erupts into cheers and applause, I glance over at my father who introduced me to the band, he’s clapping in awe and I sit up in my seat suddenly realising I’m in for a good show.
Opening with “Achilles” was a great choice, a slow opener, but as soon as the chorus hits we could hear the full band, instrumentals filling the room. The set list – which was kindly given to me by Neil’s very smartly dressed PA/Roadie Alistair – contained a mix of the old and the new, with seven of the songs played being from the new album “A Rainy Sunday Afternoon”.
A few tunes later, I hear a very familiar song begin to spill out of the speakers, Neil is accompanied by a very engaged crowd while singing “Norman and Norma”, the hall is filled by a mix of the jaunty track and the excitement of those watching.
Something that stood out for me wasn’t just the music, it was the pure performance that I witnessed. To introduce the band, Neil was passed over a bar cart, with a variety of drinks that he then poured out for each member of the band – throwing in a few comedic quips here and there, which were awarded with a wave of laughter, myself included.
Along comes “Our Mutual Friend” and Neil puts on even more of a performance, taking a seat in the audience, allowing its members to join in on his skit, where he eventually ends up back to the floor after “kissing” a member of the audience and “fallen unconscious”, a visual ode to the song he was performing.
Later in the show, Neil gets the crowd up on their feet, I notice several enthusiastic ladies jump to this opportunity beginning to fervently dance to “Something for the Weekend” and the following songs. Looking at the crowd I see nothing but beaming faces, possibly all reflecting on the successful 30 year career that Hannon has lived.
One slight exception to the blissful night of The Divine Comedy in Glasgow, (other than my personal disappointment that “To the Rescue” didn’t make the set list) would be that there wasn’t many tracks that the crowd could move to, was this due to the soft tone of the new album? Possibly, but the crowd was so eager to dance that it comes as a disappointment that there wasn’t much opportunity to do so.
4/5
