Paul Carrack
Soul Shadows Tour
Sunday 28th February 2016
Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea
Soul Shadows Tour
Sunday 28th February 2016
Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea
There aren't many musicians with the humility that Paul Carrack displays. "These Marks & Spencer tops tend to ride up a bit," he tells the audience, as he yanks down his black t-shirt over his jeans. "Let me know if you see anything you shouldn't! “ he smiles.
Carrack is a musician's musician and you can see why. Revered by many top names such as Eric Clapton, Elton John and B. B. King, to name just a few, he has been constantly in demand since he started out in the business as a 15 year old and has continued to form a career that has spanned almost 50 years and yet has an unassuming modesty that belies his extraordinary talent.
His 34 date Tour promotes his new album, Soul Shadows and naturally quite a chunk of the set list is dedicated to it with 'Too Good to Be True', 'Sleep On It', 'Keep on Loving You', 'Bet Your Life' (written with Squeeze’s Chris Difford) and his new single 'Let Me Love Again', proving popular with the sold-out Cliffs Pavilion audience last night and guaranteed to be a Radio 2 Playlist favourite when it’s released shortly.
Carrack's band provide an amazing sound with a great mix and are also given the chance to showcase their skills with some outstanding solos; in particular Steve Beighton on sax, although Carrack generously gives all his band the opportunity to show off their musicianship and boy, can they play! 'Time Waits for No-One', in particular, has the band in full throttle show-off mode.
Of course Carrack knows that his fans want to hear the classic numbers and he certainly doesn't disappoint with 'Eyes of Blue', 'Tempted', 'Living Years' and his first hit with Ace, 'How Long' in which he had the audience up and singing along and begging for more - finally finishing with 'Over Your Shoulder'.
You seriously have to wonder just why Paul Carrack isn't the household name that he deserves to be especially when you realise just how many songs he has been involved in recording. Songs we are all familiar with but don't instantly relate to the man himself. It's just a hunch, but I get the feeling that he's probably not all that bothered. Selling out shows on the tour, doing what he clearly loves with one of the best sounding bands, which includes his son Jack on drums and with a continuing ambition to keep on making music and produce even better albums, I think Carrack is pretty happy with his lot - as long as he can pop into M&S once in a while for a new (but perhaps a bit longer) t-shirt.
To read my interview with Paul Carrack click here
Carrack is a musician's musician and you can see why. Revered by many top names such as Eric Clapton, Elton John and B. B. King, to name just a few, he has been constantly in demand since he started out in the business as a 15 year old and has continued to form a career that has spanned almost 50 years and yet has an unassuming modesty that belies his extraordinary talent.
His 34 date Tour promotes his new album, Soul Shadows and naturally quite a chunk of the set list is dedicated to it with 'Too Good to Be True', 'Sleep On It', 'Keep on Loving You', 'Bet Your Life' (written with Squeeze’s Chris Difford) and his new single 'Let Me Love Again', proving popular with the sold-out Cliffs Pavilion audience last night and guaranteed to be a Radio 2 Playlist favourite when it’s released shortly.
Carrack's band provide an amazing sound with a great mix and are also given the chance to showcase their skills with some outstanding solos; in particular Steve Beighton on sax, although Carrack generously gives all his band the opportunity to show off their musicianship and boy, can they play! 'Time Waits for No-One', in particular, has the band in full throttle show-off mode.
Of course Carrack knows that his fans want to hear the classic numbers and he certainly doesn't disappoint with 'Eyes of Blue', 'Tempted', 'Living Years' and his first hit with Ace, 'How Long' in which he had the audience up and singing along and begging for more - finally finishing with 'Over Your Shoulder'.
You seriously have to wonder just why Paul Carrack isn't the household name that he deserves to be especially when you realise just how many songs he has been involved in recording. Songs we are all familiar with but don't instantly relate to the man himself. It's just a hunch, but I get the feeling that he's probably not all that bothered. Selling out shows on the tour, doing what he clearly loves with one of the best sounding bands, which includes his son Jack on drums and with a continuing ambition to keep on making music and produce even better albums, I think Carrack is pretty happy with his lot - as long as he can pop into M&S once in a while for a new (but perhaps a bit longer) t-shirt.
To read my interview with Paul Carrack click here
Last night’s support act was Liverpudlian, Robert Vincent who also gave a great performance with just his guitar as an accompaniment and who recently won the Emerging Talent Award from Radio 2's Bob Harris. He will be performing at Saint Mary Magdalen, High Street, Billericay, Essex CM12 9BQ on the 14th May and for further details of this charity gig please email robvincent@hotmail.co.uk or go online to www.robertvincentmusic.com