26 July 2007 (gig)
08 August 2007
Three songs in and Mr (Ben) Hudson is a little concerned that he’s having 'a bad hair day’ and can’t seem to work out whether he should be wearing his trademark trilby or not. As the front man for The Library, perhaps this is understandable. Any other band, in standard issue of t-shirt’n’jeans, would allow his distinctive English Urban Gent look to shine, but surrounded as he is by an array of tilted hats and funky tank-tops, Mr H can be forgiven a moment of sartorial insecurity. After all, even the drummer’s sporting a cravat.
This distinctive mix of styles doesn’t stop at the threads. The band strolls on stage to the crackly strains of a track (covered on their album) from 'My Fair Lady’ before launching into the summery strum of 'Bread and Roses’. Eloquent lyrics take in blood donation and spliff-smoking; acoustic guitar hovers over a heady, ear-splitting combination of steel drums and hip hop beats: the tone of a short but joyous session has been set.
What follows is a series of moments that borders perfection and converts a crowd who initially seemed only interested in tonight’s headliner (a likeable yet lacklustre Just Jack) into an instant fan-club. It’s hard to know exactly when this transformation takes place. Is it when Hudson and his steel-drum-toting vocalist (Joy Joseph) loop their harmonies round one another in an infinitely complex knot during 'One Specific Thing’? Or the the conversion of 'Picture of You’ from sweet album track to a thing of anthemic, lighters-in-the-air beauty?
Whatever, by the time they fire into the hook-laden 'Ask the DJ’, it seems fair to wonder why this tune was never the international mega-hit it so clearly ought to be. And they still have 'the hit’ to go. 'Too Late, Too Late’ leads to mass outbreaks of skanking throughout the room as everyone realises they actually know this one. One frantic climax later and an energised crowd is baying for more.
They don’t come back of course. They’re just the support. But if this set was anything to go by, they won’t be in second place for long.
