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Showcall Showcase - Part II: Day Two, Afternoon Session

Published Wednesday 1 February 2006 at 12:15 by Mark Ritchie (with additional material by Marcus Collingbourne)

After an enjoyable evening mixing and mingling with the agents and bookers, taking advantage of the superb onsite facilities of Park Hall and watching the house band showing what musos like to do best (after playing obviously) it was back to the Lancastrian Suite for the third session.

Showing no signs of the late night were Stretch and the boys, with guitarist Alan Wormold again taking the vocal duties and showing us what a fine voice complements his first-rate playing.

Opening the show was a tribute to the groover from Vancouver, Waking The Neighbours. A driving sound from this five-piece band with the distinctive guitar and guttural vocal that epitomises Bryan Adams. Hard to pick the best but Summer of 69 was just edged by Heaven. The rarity of a good quality Adams tribute makes this a highly bookable act in the never-satiated tribute market.

Staying on the tribute bandwagon up next was Rob Lewis’s Phil Collins by But Seriously. This solo performer has Phil’s voice absolutely nailed, both when singing and when speaking. Mannerisms were spot on and he bears more than a passing resemblance to the great man. With such a back catalogue to pick from it must be hard picking a selection for a showcase but Rob varied the period well and with his rendition of a lesser known track, Something Happened on the Way to Heaven, showed his true class.

After a musical interlude on clarinet from the indefatigable Tufty we were again faced with a complete change of pace with the appearance of string quartet Status Cymbal. These four fine classical musicians surprised some I’m sure with their choice of material steering clear of the usual classical repertoire and picking movie theme songs and even a touch of Nirvana. Needless to say it worked perfectly and this is an act that is perfect for the corporate market but with their mix of material from Vivaldi to the Verve really there is no place that they couldn’t work.

Mike Sears is a vocalist of tremendous charisma and with great arrangements for the Showcase band he certainly made his mark with the audience. Obviously a seasoned and experienced performer, he delivered his set with consummate ease and professionalism. Impeccably turned out, the highlight was his swing version of Love Changes Everything. Cruising would seem to be a natural path for this class vocalist.

Young vocal duo DS2 were next on stage and presented a varied programme of material, both in terms of tempo and period. Nice vocal harmonies and a good stage compatability were a feature of this act. Jump Onboard and You to Me Are Everything showed their qualities to the full. The quality of their tracks was spot on, a refreshing change compared to some out plying their trade.

Madcap comedy was next on the bill with Fizz-Eek. After a staid opening in full evening dress and showing not a little vocal talent he then proceeded to divest most of his clothes and turned into what is obviously his alter-ego, the alcoholic children’s radio presenter which though slightly rushed in the limited showcase time slot still showed some deft comedy material. The comedy drunk is a dying art but one that Fizz-Eek is keeping alive.

As for the next act on the bill, #1 Party Poppers, I’m not sure what I expected given the unusual name, but what we actually saw was a solo female vocalist. Checking further I discovered that this artist is advertised in Showcall as a tribute to “global female music icons”. We heard a mainly segued spot with no audience contact which almost invariably means there is subsequently little in the way of applause. During a set in which we heard songs from 4 Non Blondes and Gwen Stefani, I didn’t really get the idea of what this lady was trying to sell us. Additionally the vocal delievery sounded forced at times and not all that easy on the ear.

At this point in proceedings Tufty earned his money with a giant ‘fill’, during which we heard his celebrated Red Indians routine and a touch of the Irish with Danny Boy on saxophone. The reason for the lengthy bridge in proceedings was a backstage electrical glitch, which thankfully only held things up for around 20 minutes.

Waiting in the wings was six piece tribute band Badness, who really were worth waiting for with their superb tribute to Suggs and the rest of the nutty boys. Our House, Baggy Trousers and It Must Be Love were presented in breakneck fashion and the lads were resplendent in proper nutty boys suits. A market leader in the tribute band scene certainly and a belting live band to boot.

Very polished and experienced looking vocalist Vickee Lester glided in wearing her elegant crimson gown and did what she does best. Lester opened with It Was Just One Of Those Things during a showcase set that was faultlessly played out and must have been well appreciated, especially by those looking for a vocalist to go with a function band, a big band or to fill a cruise ship cabaret spot.

Back 4 Good is a new tribute to Take That and the usual boy band style presentation is augmented here with some live acoustic guitar and even a bit of a capella singing. A nice showcase set here from four attractive young guys, who offer genuine vocal ability. Although the market really is reaching saturation point with acts like this one, it should be acknowledged that these are four of the more superior faces in the crowd.

It seems to have been the day for oddly named solo female entertainers and next up was Andi. I’m sorry to report that the big band backing tracks looked at odds with the untrained looking mode of stage presentation. This unusually dressed lady really does need to go away and think about it all and hopefully Andi’s first appearance on Showcall Showcase will have been just the start of what will surely be a steep learning curve.

Yet another female vocalist and this time it was almost immediately apparant that the Showcall orchestra, who were backing Shirley Marie on her first song, were all trying to read from the same piece of music for a Celine Dione impression that this artist clearly did not possess the vocal range to pull off. This produced quite a huddle around the keyboard player and the problems were compounded with a version of Candi Statton’s Young Hearts Run Free, which Shirley Marie sang with the aid of a fade-out backing track.

The extraordinary vision of three girl act Ttorria came next. I have seen these girls before and they always look pencil slim and dressed in extraordinarily detailed stage costumes. Their act always seems to be altering in style and substance, which must make their stagewear bill pretty huge. A vision of rock chicks in harmony was certainly different and the choreography, which is of the pouting and posing type, was attractive and well rehearsed.

Singer Paul Griffen chose the old Rose Royce hit Wishing On A Star to open his set, which was rather novel choice for a male entertainer. Griffen is a reasonable enough vocalist but it was hard to discern anything distinctive or different here. The stagewear was uninspiring and funereal looking and the overall effect was of an artist who could have made much more impact somehow.

Closing the session was a huge and outstanding live band called Souled Out 2 Funk. Soul anthems from James Brown and the Trampps were tempered with the lighter and more soulful sounds of the Temptations and these guys had clearly thought carefully about the content of their ten minute showcase set. A superb performance from the band and the Showcall sound engineer Lee Beards, who got the balance just right and enabled this nine piece outfit to produce their best.

Mark Ritchie (with additional material by Marcus Collingbourne)

BOOKER’S CHOICE

Bill O’Callaghan from Fare Deal Entertainments chose Ttorria and Badness

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