On Saturday (15/02/14), I went down to Hare & Hounds, Birmingham to see Basia Bulat. If I'm totally honest I was super tired before going to the gig and so wasn't the most enthusiastic but went along to have a listen.
The first band on was called The Sea & I. I had never heard of them before and didn't actually know that they would be playing that night, but they blew me away. I've been listening to them everyday since this gig - they were just fantastic. A few personal favourites from the set were "Improve" and "Broken". Just in general an all round solid group of musicians. Their drummer was awesome (even whilst on crutches) and the lead singer's voice completely won me over before the end of the first song. I'm honestly astounded as to how they have such a small following - they're golden.
After that huge wake up call, Basia Bulat came on. I'd heard her most recent album Tall Tall Shadow and a bit of her previous album Heart Of My Own before the gig but that didn't prepare me for her live performance. She has an enchanting voice, which the whole crowd was immediately drawn in by. The fact that it was just her and six or so instruments on stage and she managed to fill the whole is no easy task. Switching between her autoharp, charango and keyboard mainly, Basia played a pretty complex set and even though you could hear the imperfections this only enhanced the performance and it was actually really endearing. By the end of the set the crowd had moved right up to the stage, the cheers were wilder and the applause was much louder and rightly so. She had great crowd connection and a contagious personality to match.
Basia had the crowd mesmerised as she sang through tracks including "It Can't be You", "If It Rains", "Five, Four" and "Wires. She ended the set with a more intimate song; no mics, not even standing on the stage, just her and her charango. The crowd went mad for her, screaming for an encore. Taken aback she decided to sing an old song that she used to open with (completely acapella). Even though the inconsiderate bouncers kept opening the door and letting in the booming sounds of the pub downstairs, she took it all in her stride, smiled and kept singing. She then ended with a couple of requests from the crowd (of which there were many).
It's embarrassing but I really didn't realise how beautiful folk music was until this gig - it's definitely a genre that I'm going to have to become more knowledgeable in. Such a lovely evening.
Overall Rating - 8/10
Here are some pictures from the night...
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