Live at Cockpit on Monday, 14th February 2005
Valentine's Day and yet the Cockpit brims with expectation tonight and many of the young lovers making up the crowd know that a sure guarantee of romance will come from the lilting serenade of Stephen Fretwell.
On the small matter of support acts, it is rare to find one that breaks so many cardinal rules of gigging but the "unnamed" duo who open tonight's proceedings are exactly that. Rule one in being unnamed and never aiming to correct the fact. It becomes plainly obvious that the crowds' attention has waned midway through the first piece of strum along background music. It becomes even more obvious when the band wander off in a huff proclaiming "we can't play anymore because we can't hear ourselves for you lot fuckin' talkin"... perhaps there was a good reason they remain unnamed.
Letrix were no doubt signed up in the desperate attempt to find another band that sounded like Athlete. They occasionally do but rarely cause anyone to tap a foot. Some effective drum loops, samples and guitar trickery, not to mention a great voice are all well and good but the soul and performance were left at the door. Letrix end up sounding more like Ronan Keating and by the end no-one really cares when they announce "this is going to be our big single" before launching in to another inoffensive identikit number.
The instant Stephen Fretwell takes to the stage, the evening is transformed by his mere presence. "That's my Gran at the back" he says pointing to the waving old lady stood on a box by the sound desk, and everyone is immediately endeared. It's no wonder that so many speak of him with tones of "a future great". At a sickeningly young 23 he is already a master of his craft and with just an acoustic guitar he holds the previously restless crowd in complete silence for his first 4 solo numbers only to be greeted by massive cheers of joy at the end of each. Joined by his band he humbly glides through his impressive debut album Magpie plus a couple of songs from his now very limited Northern Ambition release. Songs like "Emily", "Bad Bad You, Bad Bad Me" and the beautiful "Lost Without You" sound even sweeter live and closing with the mighty "Run" the night is most definitely his.
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On 15th February 2005 at 23:50 Anonymous 3562 wrote...
I was working that night and i would agree that Stephen Fretwell did put on an amzing gig, brilliant musicians all of them.
The reason the first band walked off was because they were trying to de-tune their acoustics but couldn't hear because of people talking, maybe they should buy a pedal for tuning!!!!