⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Crossed off the guestlist before arriving, the life of an award winner is, it would seem, a dangerous one. Stolen identity should not befall a man whose award was won for something or other. Who knows what. Receipt of the award was lost in a mass email delete post-holiday. What was not lost in the clearout was a slot on the Geordie Greep guestlist. The New Sound mastermind is rivalling Bob Dylan for most prolific touring artist. His continuing tour across the UK takes him to The Foundry, part of the Sheffield Student Union and not a Methodist church as the Uber driver first thought. We all make mistakes on the way to inspiring new sounds. But not Greep. His improvised masterclass of a set continues to evolve from this inspired genre fusion.
Nobody is doing it quite like Greep. Except for Knats. They opened, anyway. Those masters of music are perfect mood setters for Greep, whose extended intros and outros for his The New Sound hits are a dreamlike experience. Slow tempo tones for The Magician before a rising blowout towards the end, that stagger towards an instrumental high, is what defines his set. There is room to reflect yet room to bounce around also. Such is the back and forth the improvisation takes, the instrumental skill he and the band had for these selections from Greep’s debut solo album. You would be hard-pressed to find a better live act playing venues with such frequency. Greep has hammered out these live sets, the spirited performance as much a joy to witness as it is to reflect on. Truly excellent musicianship the whole way through, and as unlikely yet charming a voice as you could ever want for this show.
That is the lead joy of a Greep performance. Those little vocal intonations, the variations from studio work, keep every set fresh and different. A larger part of that is the instrumental credibility, ever-changing but capturing the spirit of the song. Blues and Hy, Holy are brilliant efforts, hit singles with every ounce of energy preserved and put out on stage. Unpredictability is what Greep benefits from. The “hi ho” in the Holy, Holy break remains, but it is once more a fantastic difference from the original version. Other pieces like As if Waltz and Bongo Season are extended wonderfully, twisted and manipulated into jams which feel more like in-house references to the musical taste found within the tightly knit group. It is that peek inside the band’s playing which sparks the best moments of the set.
Greep remains a fantastic live performer whose work is as versatile as the band accompanying him. An incredible credit to the scene, and much like Dylan, the charm comes from Greep’s ability to win over the audience without as much as a word to them. His confident display builds a bridge into the deeper pockets of his musical talent. He and the band are in fine form at The Foundry, where chancers may find themselves posing as awards winners. We cannot all run vaguely successful online music websites from an at-home office. We cannot all be Greep, though, whose ear for finding the right musicians for these live sets is just as important as his own playing style. As bold, as phenomenal, and as fascinating as you could have hoped for from the instrumental titan. That playing style overshadows the subtleties of his lyrics, which beat through nonetheless.
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