Craig David - The Lowry Theatre - 15/06/08 by
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Craig David was unlucky. He really was. Leigh Francis (aka rubber-faced Avid Merrion) could have picked just about anyone to destroy the career of, but it was Southampton born David that he chose to portray as a bedwetting Northerner for no apparent reason, other than that “Bo selecta!” made a good catchphrase.
He also memorably won no BRIT awards one year despite being nominated for multiple categories. David is only just recovering from both setbacks. He was unfairly made the laughing stock of the nation, but now he is beginning to fight back, putting on a fine show to prove the doubters wrong, although admittedly his audience comprised mainly of teenagers and drunk women.
Supporting tonight are five-piece Mamas Gun. They play a thoroughly enjoyable half-hour of funky jazz and in singer Andy Platts have a man with charisma in buckets. They are the sort of band you could see doing very well on a talent show like the X Factor, and I mean that as a compliment. They need to make more of their upbeat material and less of the slower, less musically interesting numbers if they are to progress, however.
Technical issues delay David’s arrival onstage, with his band (almost double figures of them) standing around waiting uncomfortably for him for two or three minutes. But the eventual effect is dazzling, an already well up-for-it crowd go wild when David emerges and launches straight into recent single ‘Hot Stuff (Let’s Dance)’.
David strives to control the set’s pace throughout, mixing the ballads into the set well, but there are often problems when his backing musicians are needed to slow or speed up the music immediately, with a muddying of the sound quite frequent.
His main problem is that he can’t decide who he wants to be. He comes out wearing an ice-white jacket and sunglasses, looking like a poor man’s Kanye West (a comparison also apt for when David attempts rapping), before ditching the shades to come across as more of a boy-next-door type. Which is difficult when most of his songs are about bedding members of the fairer sex.
David’s soulful voice is far better suited to the slower numbers where he has the chance to show off his vocal range, but the fact remains that the material he is working with is weak. Next single ‘Officially Yours’ is a prime example, offering nothing of substance to the listener.
However, the buzzing crowd reacts far better to David’s more up-tempo tracks, with plenty of dancing in the aisles taking place despite the stewards’ frowns. David’s voice is lost in the mix when his delivery speeds up though. The brass section also adds an unnecessary and distasteful Mark Ronson-esque tinge to otherwise soundly delivered songs.
It was not all bad at all though. David has grown into a master of working the crowd, and did an excellent job of making sure everyone was enjoying themselves. He’s also got a raft of pretty listenable songs behind him, although he’ll always be better known for his earlier work, with ‘7 Days’ and ‘Walking Away’ receiving by far the biggest cheers of the night.
Sadly, the quality of his output is reflected in recent chart placings. Long gone is the young star who twice topped the British singles charts, replaced with a confidence-shy man who appears lost over what direction to take now. David was heralded as the saviour of R ‘n’ B in this country and it hasn’t at all gone according to plan. But he is back on the right track. His next album, his fifth, will surely make or break him, his current generation of fans will soon grow tired of him and he will need a fresh trick to attract new listeners. But on this showing, he still has the talent to make something of himself yet.
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