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Gig Review

James Vincent McMorrow
Royal Festival Hall

Article written by Phil S-S - Feb 22, 2012

There can’t be many bigger musical leaps than self-recording your first album in an isolated seaside house to playing in front of 2,500 people in the heart of London at the Royal Festival Hall, but it is one that James Vincent McMorrow has made in a little over two years. Coming out on stage McMorrow’s, or JVM as he has been acronym-ised by his growing number of fans, down-to-earth and genuinely humbled attitude immediately set a tone as he joked with the fully booked venue audience that a sign of how big this night was for him was the fact that he was wearing a suit jacket. But like a young boy at a wedding who is not at home in such clothing it was splayed on the floor at the first opportunity.

Apologising for his nervousness – something that not once came across in his voice that was described later by a friend as ‘incredibly high and incredibly low and yet still pitch perfect’ – McMorrow began playing through songs from his debut album, In The Morning, alternating between going solo with this guitar or keyboard, and with his five piece band.

His ninety-minute set had a wonderfully amateur feel to it – but it in the purest sense of the word: someone who does something solely because they love doing it. From mixing up the planned order of his second and third songs and the subsequent sheepish apology to his band, to the re-tuning of his guitar between songs that allowed a besotted audience to shout out all manner of enthused encouragement and matrimonial advances, to the multiple times that his whole band walked off stage for a song or two only to return again later, the evening had the warm sense of a guy playing some music for his friends.

McMorrow’s talent was undeniable throughout. His hauntingly stripped down cover of Steve Winwood’s Higher Love was a highlight, simply because it allowed all the focus onto his soul-stirring voice. Stand out performances of his own songs included We Don’t Eat with its crescendo so powerful that it made you almost unable to sit comfortably and If I Had a Boat that peaked to leave the hairs on the back of your neck both standing and applauding.

The up-lit stage lights that cast large dynamic shadows of his rhythmic movements changeably across all walls of the hall created an experience that was paradoxical: simultaneously unsettling and comforting, but altogether outstanding.

Links:
http://www.jamesvmcmorrow.com