LIVE: Bernard Fanning – Cottiers Theatre, Glasgow 29.04.14

Rarely do I pick up a copy of The Metro but thanks to the almighty I did, as last Thursday I discovered by chance former Powderfinger front-man Bernard Fanning was playing the Cottiers Theatre in Glasgow.

I discovered Aussie band Powderfinger back in 2001 when living out in Brisbane and have been a fan of both their “The Finger” and Bernard’s solo material since. Disappointingly the band announced their intention to split in April 2010, declaring “we feel that we have said all that we want to say as a musical group”. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to catch Powderfinger live on a few occasions and tonight would be my first catching Bernard live as a solo artist. Arriving at the intimate venue early was a priority and despite leaving my hometown in plenty of time, my notoriously bad parking skills resulted in a 10 minute power walk to the Cottiers Theatre. The venue itself is a stunning church conversion and from the moment I arrived I knew the next few hours would be ones to treasure.

London based Scottish singer/songwriter Rory Butler opened the evening with his soulful and melodic tunes and entertained the swelling crowd with tales of his student life in Glasgow, and now fruitful career working in a vegan shop in London. With the bodies continuing to pack in there was a decent crowd in attendance by the time Bernard took to the stage as the crowd clapped and shouted words of approval. Appearing in good spirits the tone of the evening was set from the off as Bernard took a swig of his Irn Bru and re-counted memories of previous trips to Glasgow, and hiding from the shite weather in his hotel room as he watched the telly. Bernard announced the night itself would consist of mainly his solo tunes with a few Powderfinger songs, covers and also some new material thrown in for good measure.

Being such an intimate venue, the chilled ambience in the theatre provided the perfect setting for this acoustic performance and for me the performance was near perfection throughout and I am sure I was not the only one in attendance feeling blessed just to be there. ‘Departures (Blue Toowong Skies)’ was an early stand-out whilst the version of Powderfinger’s ‘Sunsets’ brought me instant goose-bumps. At times the lady standing behind me was singing out of tune a little too loudly (word for word) in my ear, but I was in such a great mood just to be there not even that was bothering me in the slightest.  A stunning version of the Gordon Lightfoot track ‘Early Morning Rain’ took me back to days of playing my old man’s cassettes as a young lad and was a welcome surprise on the evening.

A large proportion of the material came from Bernard’s debut solo offering Tea & Sympathy and this suited me perfectly as I did not get into 2011’s follow-up Departures to the same extent. ‘Thrill Is Gone’ sounded immense while ‘Songbird’ got everyone in the theatre clapping along. ‘The Strangest Thing’ also featured whilst the second attempt at ‘Wish You Well’ highlighted just what a great vocal Bernard has. Between tracks there was on-going banter with the crowd and Bernard, including a shout from the crowd to go for a drink after the gig with an impromptu chorus of Grover Washington Jnr’s ‘Just the Two Of Us’ (think Will Smith if you are not familiar with this song). Fanning ramped up the pressure on his tour compadre by announcing the best ever Mandolin solo would follow.

Towards the end of the set Bernard announced there would be no encore and the set closed out with the chilling ‘These Days’ before final and new song ‘Emerald Flame’. Written in response to Producer Nick Didia telling Bernard all his solo songs were depressing, ‘Emerald Flame’ – a stripped back love song – ended the night beautifully as Bernard promised to return to Glasgow again next year with his full band. Looking forward to it already!

Bazza Mills

@bazzamills

Bazza Mills
G'day my name is Bazza Mills! Whilst my wife watches reality TV shows, I enjoy listening to music, going to gigs and taking some photos. Growing up between Scotland and Australia exposed me to a variety of music and my tastes range from The Stone Roses to Guns N Roses. Typically, I love most things guitar based and have a love for live music and photography!