Big Big Train Queen's Hall Edinburgh 22nd September 2024 Review
Big Big Train were at the Queen’s Hall Edinburgh tonight on their current “The Likes Of Us Tour” and obviously the fans of their music were not missing their chance to catch this live performance.
To call Big Big Train a band in the normal sense of the word is, I think, a bit of an understatement to everyone involved. To me, Big Big Train is more of a collective of musicians who all have at different times their own individual projects along with other collaborations. This line-up, however, is obviously a band/collective where these highly talented multi-instrumentalists come together as friends to explore musical concepts and ideas both in the studio and in live performance.
Big Big Train has, since its was originally formed by songwriter Gregory Spawton on the south coast of England in the early 1990s, seen many line-up changes but to many people in the audience tonight the current line-up, following the unexpected death in November 2021 of David Longdon, Big Big Train’s lead vocalist since 2009, is obviously “their band”
Currently the band has a truly international line up of talent that includes
This set list was a mixture of older favourites and selected new works that included “Beneath The Masts” and “Love is the Light” from their new studio album “The Likes of Us” which was released in March this year.
Perhaps the biggest applause from the audience tonight though was reserved for a Big Big Train classic, that was for “Telling The Bees” a song written by the late David Longdon. This stripped-back performance (compared to other songs tonight) by Nick D’Virgilio (vocals and guitar) and Rikard Sjoblom was obviously a song from their hearts that touched their audience’s hearts too.
Opening up for Big Big Train this evening was the very distinctive sounds of League of Lights (aka duo Farrah and Richard West). From the moment of their stepping out onto the stage and beginning to perform/play, it was obvious that Farrah and Richard knew exactly what they were doing musically as a set-list that included “Persephone”, “Kings and Queens” and “The Collector” showed great care in their musical construction.
As with any support band, there was a limited time (about 45 minutes) for League of Lights to showcase their music, but this was more than enough to give all of us an insight into their musical creativity and the vocal range of Farrah West. This is one band that I would want to see again on stage with an expanded line of musicians to fully explore the many complexities of their sound.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
To call Big Big Train a band in the normal sense of the word is, I think, a bit of an understatement to everyone involved. To me, Big Big Train is more of a collective of musicians who all have at different times their own individual projects along with other collaborations. This line-up, however, is obviously a band/collective where these highly talented multi-instrumentalists come together as friends to explore musical concepts and ideas both in the studio and in live performance.
Big Big Train has, since its was originally formed by songwriter Gregory Spawton on the south coast of England in the early 1990s, seen many line-up changes but to many people in the audience tonight the current line-up, following the unexpected death in November 2021 of David Longdon, Big Big Train’s lead vocalist since 2009, is obviously “their band”
Currently the band has a truly international line up of talent that includes
- GREG SPAWTON bass, pedals & guitar (UK)
- NICK D’VIRGILIO drums, vocals, guitar (USA)
- ALBERTO BRAVIN vocals, guitar, keys (ITALY)
- RIKARD SJOBLOM guitar, vocals, keys (SWEDEN)
- CLARE LINDLEY violin, vocals, keys (UK)
- OSKAR HOLLDORFF keyboards, vocals (NORWAY)
- PAUL MITCHELL trumpet (UK)
This set list was a mixture of older favourites and selected new works that included “Beneath The Masts” and “Love is the Light” from their new studio album “The Likes of Us” which was released in March this year.
Perhaps the biggest applause from the audience tonight though was reserved for a Big Big Train classic, that was for “Telling The Bees” a song written by the late David Longdon. This stripped-back performance (compared to other songs tonight) by Nick D’Virgilio (vocals and guitar) and Rikard Sjoblom was obviously a song from their hearts that touched their audience’s hearts too.
Opening up for Big Big Train this evening was the very distinctive sounds of League of Lights (aka duo Farrah and Richard West). From the moment of their stepping out onto the stage and beginning to perform/play, it was obvious that Farrah and Richard knew exactly what they were doing musically as a set-list that included “Persephone”, “Kings and Queens” and “The Collector” showed great care in their musical construction.
As with any support band, there was a limited time (about 45 minutes) for League of Lights to showcase their music, but this was more than enough to give all of us an insight into their musical creativity and the vocal range of Farrah West. This is one band that I would want to see again on stage with an expanded line of musicians to fully explore the many complexities of their sound.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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