Benjamin Francis Leftwich (With Support) - O2 Academy, Oxford - 18th October 2011 (Live Review)
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Written by James Ball
Pop Will Eat Itself are playing in the same venue tonight on the upstairs level, and rarely are there two more different gigs going on in the same venue, and less than a year ago, it would be easy to decide which gig takes the bigger downstairs room. However, the sudden rise of Benjamin Francis Leftwich, a true tale of the popularity that can be gained by one man and his guitar, has dictated that about a week before this gig takes place, it is in fact announced that it is Ben who takes the larger downstairs room, and it nearly sold out too.
While not exactly rocking the stage until it bleeds, Ben Leftwich tantalised the near sell-out crowd with a 50-minute set comprising nearly exclusively from his debut album 'Last Smoke before the Snowstorm'. Prior to that though, he brought some friends along starting with Monument Valley, a young singer-songwriter who dabbles in an array of intricate acoustica designed to softly chill away the evening, losing yourself in a wave of calm without feeling like you’re losing touch with reality. While I, in particular, and about half of the crowd were very much into his set, there were a good number who weren’t paying much attention and were talking throughout the performance. This is to be expected at gigs, but they were missing out on some serious wizardry. If you get the chance to catch him at a solo gig where the entire audience will (should!) be enthralled, I would thoroughly recommend it as I’ve seen few people so comfortable with and able to find their way around an acoustic guitar with such effortlessness ease.
Secondly were Daughter, an act from North London with the vocal tones of one particular Florence Welch, who then proceeded to spend the following thirty minutes playing something that was generally fairly bland. The problem wasn’t the hushed atmosphere coupled with crowd noise this time, nor was it the violent air conditioning unit that turned the area I was standing into epicentre of an arctic storm, it was more that the music seemed phoned in and a bit more like cardboard than the imagination of Monument Valley before or the sheer lyrical power of Ben Leftwich afterwards. I get the feeling that there’s often a bit more oomph to the show than this seeing as her voice Is the signature of beautiful and there is passion and vulnerability there, but it just didn’t seem to come through, especially since between songs she spoke so quietly into the mic that I, eight rows from the front, couldn’t make out a word she said.
Then, after 35 long, blowy, freezing minutes, the air-con turned off and Ben Leftwich hit the stage to a polite, but focused welcome. The background glittered with twinkling white lights and he, alone, with nothing more than a guitar and mic, took a thousand people onto a spiritual and lyrical journey with his own brand of acoustic brilliance.
Acoustic-guitar based singer-songwriters can very quickly fall into one of two categories, interesting and emotive, or dull and boring, and there’s a fine line in the songs written by those acts between the two. With no drums, bass, keys, synths or anything else to hide behind, the songs have to hold their own and punch above their weight to keep this many people enthralled, and if this set at face value stretched across two hours, it may start to get a little tiresome, but the fifty minutes we got were exactly enough to keep eyes facing forward at all times, ensuring that it was all about him and his music.
Three songs in, Ben turns the guitar right down and walks away from his mic to play a brand new song completely acoustically. No vocal aids, just him and the guitar and I’ve been attending gigs for eleven years and have never seen anyone do that for a full song. Ben did this because he likes a “nice, quiet” crowd who are really into the music, just enjoying themselves and respecting the musicians on stage, which was an honest, and human touch. Returning to the mic and continuing the set, it comes as no surprise the biggest reaction was for main set closer 'Atlas Hands', the first proper singalong of the night so far, and as a result, Ben seemed to play it twice as hard, really bringing everything he could out of his guitar. The mid-set cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Atlantic City' went down a storm also.
Leaving the stage for all of about seven seconds, Ben mentions that due to a club night in the same venue, there is a strict curfew, but since we are “cooler than that” he played another song as an encore, closing the with title track from debut album 'Last Smoke before the Snowstorm'.
Less than a year ago Ben was playing in front of 70 people at the Jericho Tavern a couple of miles down the road. Now he’s here in front of a thousand. Next year…the world?
Stereoboard recently spoke to Benjamin Francis Leftwich ahead of his show in Lincoln. Click HERE to hear what he had to say about the live experience, his debut album, Lana Del Rey and the state of fruit distribution in cocktails.
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Acoustic-guitar based singer-songwriters can very quickly fall into one of two categories, interesting and emotive, or dull and boring, and there’s a fine line in the songs written by those acts between the two. With no drums, bass, keys, synths or anything else to hide behind, the songs have to hold their own and punch above their weight to keep this many people enthralled, and if this set at face value stretched across two hours, it may start to get a little tiresome, but the fifty minutes we got were exactly enough to keep eyes facing forward at all times, ensuring that it was all about him and his music.
