Stephen Fretwell, Morning Runner - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - Friday 13th January 2006

This was a free gig (for me), courtesy of Carling Live, whose competition for tickets I entered. In reality, it seemed that Carling Live were doing a great job of getting rid of the many unsold tickets that remained for the show. So, free tickets on the 3rd (top) floor of Shepherds Bush Empire - a new one for me, as I usually avoid gigs if the seats in the heavens are all that's left. A surprisingly good view from Level 3 though, as the seats ramp up fairly steeply, so you can see well from pretty much anywhere - if you can get over the fact that you're about 3 miles from the stage.

Mara Carlyle was first on, a woman that I'd walk over hot coals to run away from if I ever see her on the bill at a gig in future. She was awful, and so incredibly self important as to totally turn me off before she'd even got through 2 songs. Nice singing voice, but she really seemed to think she was a whole lot better (and especially funnier) than she really is.

The undoubted highlight of this gig for me was Morning Runner - a band that I'd managed to avoid for the latter half of last year, completely unintentionally. In fact, they played so many support gigs, it was amazing I didn't bump into them eventually, so it was good to finally do so today. Hailing from my old haunt of Reading, they seem to have the knack of writing some very good songs, and are a very engaging prospect as a live band. It was extremely easy to see how they managed to bag slots supporting Coldplay and Embrace - they sound like the bastard child of the two, but with significantly less whining, and more guitars instead. I will definitely be looking out to see them again soon.

After Morning Runner, Stephen Fretwell appeared to a surprisingly rapturous reception - I'd not heard all that much about him before, but it appears that at least 1,000 other people had done! With David Gray around, who would have thought that the world needed any more male singer/songwriters? But here was another!! For a male singer/songwriter, he wasn't half bad - clearly not as good as Willy Mason, but far closer to that end of the scale than to David Gray. His lyrics are clever and ring true to many of us, and he is a good musician with a good band behind him.
Not 100% my cup of tea, but well worth seeing, and worth getting to the venue early for if he's supporting somebody else.