12 February 2012 (gig)
13 February 2012
Just a song into this show, one of Gavin DeGraw’s rare UK gigs, he stops his band from continuing and apologetically asks members of the audience to move aside to let a wheelchair bound fan get closer to the stage. “You might not like me now” he says to one man at the front, “but one of my best friends is in a wheelchair and he won’t ask you to move, if you know what I mean.”
It is not an awkward moment, but an unusual start to an evening that from then builds and builds, until the raucous closer, Not Over You. The final song is lifted from DeGraw’s latest album Sweeter, a punchy and confident statement of blue eyed soul. The fact that he can end his encore with it in front of a UK audience underlines how much these fans adore him. After all, Sweeter is still only available as an import on places like Amazon.
DeGraw’s piano powered pop-rock has not travelled as well as it should from the States, which is surprising and baffling. His music is radio friendly, lyrically simple and marvellously produced; he probably needs a worldwide radio smash like I’m Yours which did it for Jason Mraz. Those trademarks of DeGraw’s, the power-pop label for example, are not a criticism, because there is nothing wrong with the genre, if you do it well. And he is an impressive performer and has the Manchester Academy 2 very quickly in the palm of his hand despite that wheelchair moment.
Other new material is also received well, with Soldier, title track Sweeter, Run Every Time and Candy all featuring. His early hit Chariot is second in, while later on the crowd are in fine vocal for the tender More Than Anyone. The One Tree Hill theme I Don’t Want To Be creates the biggest reaction but a short interlude of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On is also received well, particularly by one lady who decides to share her love for the singer by shouting “I love you more than my husband”; that would have been an interesting journey home!
Another short cover is The Script’s Breakeven, which superbly leads into Follow Through from his debut album. The set also includes the student friendly Chemical Party taken from the same album while Lover Be Strong, from DeGraw’s more bluesy third album Free is an interesting example of his career progression. Before the gig a couple from Manchester had shared their excitement having “waited years” to see ‘Gav’ perform; they won’t have left disappointed and probably will not leave it as long until they see him again.
