Inferno, Bournemouth
Dave McPherson has taken time out of his busy schedule with his two band’s Centiment and InMe to travel down to the South Coast to perform a solo show at the Inferno in Bournemouth.
Ever since InMe’s first trip down to Bournemouth in 2003 Dave and the band have always received a very warm welcome, tonight is no different. A large amount of old and new fans alike have packed the Inferno for a top evening of entertainment the McPherson way.
The evening is kicked off with a couple of quality local supports who have been hand picked to compliment the main attraction. The first of these is Tom Clements who has himself had a nice round trip via Cardiff to get here tonight and thankfully is showing no signs of fatigue. Before Tom even starts his set he belts out a little bit of the “Only Fools and Horses” theme tune and gets the enthusiastic crowd singing along in unison. A fine set of original songs follow from his self titled debut album including the impressive “Creeping Up The Stairs”, and an interesting song called “Dear Kirsty” about a bunny boiler ex-girlfriend. The songs all used a loop pedal, a tool that Tom has mastered very well over the last few years, giving the songs a nice layered depth and making things more interesting for the audience. The set end’s with a cover of Dire Straits “Sultans Of Swing”, on just a 6 string acoustic guitar. The performance of this song alone showed off Tom’s massive talent off to the maximum, getting him a massive appreciative cheer from the more than impressed Inferno crowd.
Next up is the organiser of events and the man with the big afro, the “Afro Ninja” himself Tim Somerfield. A legend around these parts who works tirelessly on the local music scene. Tim himself is a very big InMe fan and his music over the years has become influenced by the work of Dave McPherson, so it is great to see these friends on the same bill together. Tonight Tim has bought along A.J. Woodhouse to accompany him on guitar-AJ is such a big man that he makes his guitar look like a ukulele! There is no need for a loop pedal in this set as the two chaps work together with their acoustic guitars to create a beautiful sound.
Tim’s voice is something to behold featuring a delightfully varied range, delivering pitch perfect vocals to a home crowd that listens intently to a host of original compositions from his vast back catalogue. The stand out tracks on the night come in the form of a couple of songs from Tim’s new EP “The Travelling Man”-“Better Man” and a great well delivered track called “Dirty Words Come Clean”. The set came to a close with a nicely reworked cover of Biffy Clyro’s “Mountains” which reminded us old enough to remember that Biffy Clyro actually supported InMe back on a tour in 2004.
Just before the rather late hour of 11pm Dave Mcpherson stepped up on to the stage with two pints of Guinness and a glint in his eye! Kicking of with “Snowball” from his recent “Dreamoirs” album he did not even have to try as the crowd were on his side right from the start. His unmistakable voice filled the Inferno bringing a huge amount of smiles from all around the room from excited fans enjoying this intimate evening.
As well as the songs Dave also rambles on between songs and you cannot be sure if this was the Guinness talking or not. Each heckler is delt with swiftly and efficiently such is his experience with this sort of crowd. A beautifully passionately executed version of Kodaline’s “All I Want” is a nice break from the original material, before giving everybody what they want with a great stripped down version of the InMe classic “Faster The Chase”. A few more songs including a couple from ” The Hardship Dairies”-“Last Year” and “Love Rats” which included a story about a couple of dominatrix’s who Dave befriended after a video shoot.
The finale though a little predictable to those who have seen him before was “Boom Boom Shake The Room”, a song which Dave Started playing 8 years ago and now cannot play a gig without it being requested! The gig at just over an hour was disappointingly a little short, but what the heck. Seeing the legend that is Dave McPherson up close and personal is always a sheer pleasure.
Set List
Snowball
Heart Needs Blood
Lady Luck
Turbulence
All I Want (Kodaline)
Take My Heart For Ransom (New Song)
Faster The Chase
Love Rats
Kingdom
Last Year
Boom Boom (shake The Room)
links
http://dave-mcpherson.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/davemcphersonmusic
http://timsomerfield.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/timsomerfieldafroninja
http://www.tommycmusic.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/tommycmusic12
Words & Pictures By Dave Chinery (Chinners)
