Home Gigs Gig Review : The Staves – Mandela Hall

Gig Review : The Staves – Mandela Hall

4 min read
Comments Off on Gig Review : The Staves – Mandela Hall
0
1,157

Review & Photography by Paul Verner for MPM

It’s always a pleasure to see live music in the new Mandela Hall, Belfast. Tonight was no exception, with a packed out crowd promising who turned out to catch The Staves as they tour on their recently released new Album ‘All Now’.

Before that though, without any kind of fanfare or introduction Memorial took to the stage and treated the gathering audience to a couple of gentle acoustic numbers taken from their new album ‘Redsetter’. Followed quickly by 2021 single ‘Latchkey’, during which it became apparent that the duo had captivated the audience, there was hardly a sound in the room apart from a slight bustle coming from the bar as newcomers were ordering drinks.

The set continued with ‘Broken Record’, ‘Warrener’, a new song called ‘I Want You’ and closed out with the charming ‘Love is a Kind of Sadness’.

There wasn’t much needed to reset the stage, so the gap between the bands seemed overly long. Finally when the lights went down, the band came on stage one by one, opening the set with a trio of songs from the new album beginning with the title track, ‘All Now’.

In fact a large portion of the set was, unsurprisingly from the new album, but there was plenty from the back catalogue too, including ‘In The Long Run’ from 2012 release ‘Dead & Born & Grown’, and ‘Best Friend’ from ‘Good Woman’ (2021).

In a set filled with so many perfect harmonies and graceful lyrics, which conjured perfect soundscapes it was hard to pick out some favourites. Particular highlights of the evening were both from 2014’s ‘If I Was’ album. ‘Black and White’, which began with a haunting solo vocal and grew into an emotive, gospel like anthem. Great to hear this live, it was definitely far more emotional than the studio recording.

With it’s gentle horn & ukulele intro ‘Make it Holy’ was the other stand out moment of the evening. Building with a military type snare drum, the stunning vocals, which were a characteristic of the whole evening, seemed far more potent on this particular song.

The main set closed out with ‘You Held It All’ and the short encore of ‘Mexico’ and ‘Teeth White’ finished out the evening.

The Staves continue on tour in The Button Factory Dublin for 2 nights (31st May & 1st June), St. Luke’s Cork on the 2nd June then the Black Deer Festival 2024 in Tunbridge Wells, UK 14th-16th June. Please check their website for further touring details.

Load More Related Articles
Load More By admin
Load More In Gigs
Comments are closed.

Check Also

L.A. GUNS: After 40 Years L.A. Guns Are Still Grinding With A New Album, ‘Leopard Skin,’ Out April 4

It was almost 40 years ago that L.A. Guns established themselves as the undisputed sleaze …