Review: Newton Faulkner at Whelan’s, May 27th 2012
Words: Vanessa Monaghan
Photos: Sean Smyth
It’s a hot sticky Sunday night as Newton Faulkner takes to the Whelan’s stage for his last gig on this thirty two date tour. He steps up to the microphone to a hero’s welcome and as he starts playing ‘Pulling Teeth’, his smiling face shows the signs of an artist happy where he is.
The tightly packed audience are into the show right from the start, singing along and for the uninitiated, it’s not hard for him to win them over. A lovely guitar style, beautiful melodies and his bubbly personality make the task easy. As his relaxed interactions with the crowd make it as much their gig as it is his. ‘People Should Smile More’ sees Faulkner get the crowd singing and is followed by telling the story of how he gets a lot of grief for the lyrics which were inspired by him getting hit across the face ‘by a granny’ when he asked if she needed a hand with her shopping.
Faulkner’s lyrics lend themselves to audience singalongs and it happens on more than one occasion throughout the course of the night, ‘Against the Grain’ and ‘Pick up your Broken Heart’ get the audience ready for what is about to come. Faulkner also introduces a foot pedal into his onstage wizardy which adds a bass depth to ‘Pick It Up’. Newton is also known for enjoying the odd cover or two, starting off with Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop‘. Other suggested covers are shouted from the audience, ‘Spongebob Squarepants‘, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘ among others but Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstition‘ is what the audience are treated to. He funks up his guitar playing and adds some samples to the mix and the audience sing like their lives depended on it.
Audience participation is back to the fore as he plays the first single from his forthcoming album ‘Write It On Your Skin’. For the chorus of ‘Clouds’, Faulkner splits the audience into three and gets them to sing different parts of the chorus, building the track to the climatic ending. This size of tour is a great introduction for the new material and given how the tracks are received, his album could be one of the hits of the years. New songs, ‘Bricks‘, alongside the title track of the album go down well with the audience. Faulkner admits he’s only one guy and a guitar but during ‘Write It On Your Skin’, sticks on some distortion and the crowd bounces in unison. This could be a full on rock gig.
These are the last songs of this tour, drinking from the tea globe, which is placed on the stage, he admits that he doesn’t want it to end. His second single, ‘Dream Catch Me‘ is still a fan favourite going by the Whelan’s crowd, that’s before he plays an unplanned song, ‘Gone in the Morning’. The heat in the venue is sweltering but the energy from the stage or from the crowd hasn’t waned. The night finishes with ‘Sugar in The Snow‘. Newton Faulkner is well and truly back with a bang, this tour was a fantastic opportunity to showcase his new material before the release of his new album. A brilliantly upbeat and passionate performance from one man and his guitar. Once his album comes out, the October gig in The Olympia will be a must on every concert goers calendar.
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