Newcastle, U.K. Thursday 28-November-2024.
This was the sixth time we have seen Martin Harley. This time he was supported by Mark Lewis on upright base to add extra depth and richness. The Cluny 2 counts under the category of intimate venue, nowhere is very far from the stage.
The plus side of going to Newcastle for this gig is that we got to dine pre-concert at the excellent Cook House restaurant just minutes from the venue. Creative, interesting and very tasty food.
We went for a beer in the main bar so by the time we wandered round to the venue all the seats in the front rows were taken (that's only about six rows of six seats). So we picked the first row of the raked seating at the back only to discover the end seat was reserved in the name of McLellan! It turned out that the gentleman sitting there and I share the exact same spelling of our surnames and he had travelled down from Glasgow to see Martin.
You get your money‘s worth with Martin Harley. He plays two hour-long sets with a break in the middle where you can pop down to his merch table and have a chat with the man himself. He has a new album "Morning Sun", his first solo album for five years so we snapped up both a CD and vinyl of the same.
For me if I do not know the songs, I generally don’t derive quite as much enjoyment as I might. With some bands I have observed that many of the audience know all the words to all the songs. However with Martin even though I didn’t know these new songs they were instantly listenable and I could easily make out the words.
Part way through Martin was re-tuning his guitar so he asked us to ask Mark anything. There followed an entertaining Q&A session and much banter betwixt audience and performers.
As well as tracks from the new album he did play a couple of my old favourites: “Cardboard King” and “Cowboy in Hawaii”. Mary correctly predicted the two encore songs which were: “Old Winter Coat” and “Chocolate Jesus”. Two fine songs to go out on.
If you get a chance, do go see this man. Brilliant entertainment!
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