Paul Heaton, Cerys Matthews and Attic lights.

We went to a gig last night at the Waterfront.

First off were the Attic Lights, a 5 piece indie rock band from Scotland. They had 4 guitarists which seemed a bit excessive with rhythm, melody, bass and 12 string and some of their best songs were when they had a keyboard instead of the 4th guitar and the sound was a bit more balanced. Overall however they were tight musically and well engineered to provide an entertaining performance with strong vocals and some interesting themes . Listen to them by clicking here.

Secondly was Cerys Matthews who used to be the lead singer with Catatonia and is now doing some work with just a rhythm guitarist. Originally she is Welsh and the strong accent dominates her songs and provides a unique song. Her songs ranged from 19th century drinking songs sung in Welsh, some more mainstream pop songs and some songs written in her current base in Nashville and has bluegrass influence. She was really good and has an amazing range and power to her voice with her best songs being when she dropped into the lower octaves and sounded more dirty/ sleazy/ sexy. My only grouse is the people around me who paid good money to stand and chat about X-Factor 3. If you are reading this, and you know who you are, go to a coffee shop next time. Listen to Cerys here.

The headlining act was Paul Heaton, ex Beautiful South and The Housemartins, who had a number of particularly vociferous fans along. Despite taking slightly too long to come on stage they did not quite get the balance right and due to the bass being a bit too loud the vocals were obscured which was a shame as he is known for his social conscience and having a strong narrative running though the songs. After a couple he went a bit more acoustic and they seemed to sort out the issue and the gig improved. Overall a good night out with friends. Listen to Paul here