GRAHAM GOULDMAN – TRADING BOUNDARIES, SHEFFIELD GREEN, EAST SUSSEX 20.7.23
A Heart Full of Songs:
Graham Gouldman is quite simply a song writing institution, with a vast collection of quality material spanning more years than I care to count. Yet, he is as valid today as he ever has been. Tonight’s show at Trading Boundaries, the first of two showed Graham and his band in an entirely different light moving from the familiar electric rock environment into a much more personal and stripped-down semi-acoustic scenario.
Yet, everything that made the man who was a founder of, and still the last remaining member of chart topping favourites 10cc was here to see. The quality of the songwriting, the humour, the banter with the band and audience. This made for a tantalising and very interesting evening.
Anyone coming to hear a pure 10cc set will however be disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of 10cc in the set but Graham’s song writing credentials are far wider than just 10cc and span a far wider area which was visited this evening, whether it was more recent solo material or pieces written for the likes of Wax, The Yardbirds, Herman’s Hermits or The Hollies. All band era’s were visited with song choices clearly reflecting the scope of his influence and the musical prowess and ability that he exhibits.
This show was interesting in more ways than one as it fell to a certain extent outside of the usual concert environment. The venue, Trading Boundaries, is a small bijou enterprise, with the stage rising into the venue’s café area. The audience have the option to stand or have a meal whilst watching the show. It’s a very intimate environment, with strong Indian decoration, reflective of the shop nature of part of the venue, yet that in itself leads to the provision of the perfect arena with a delightful ambience that filters into the artists performances and the audience appreciation.
Graham entered the stage alone and singly played and sung the opening piece, ‘Pamela Pamela’, a number that he had written back in the sixties for Wayne Fontana. Staying with the sixties feel the band, predominantly drawn from the current 10cc live band began to be introduced, one song at a time with Iain Hornal joining him to play ‘Heart Full Of Soul’, the Yardbirds song, and then Keith Hayman joining for the Herman’s Hermits song, ‘No Milk Today’.
Dave Cobby, the 10cc production manager was the last to join in on percussion for a rousing ‘Good Morning Judge’, the first of the 10cc songs played that night, and unsurprisingly received with a heart felt surge of love and good feeling.
Once the band were fully ensconced, and despite some initial sound troubles, which seemed to affect the band more than the audience, they were able to develop into a tight group of musicians who were able to allow their musical ability to flow throughout the set. With triple acoustic guitars to the fore, the band were able to play off each other which enabled them to take pieces into other musical areas that were not always familiar, yet allowed the band to expand what they could do within the structure of the song.
Typical of this approach was the Wax hit, co-written with the sadly departed Andrew Gold, ‘Bridge To My Heart’, which saw strong technical interplay, indicating the cleverness of the piece, whereas possibly for many years many have concentrated on the commercial poppiness of the tune and its singalong chorus.
With the set flowing Graham introduced us to a new song, ‘Floating In Heaven’, on which Brian May has collaborated as the song crossed both his love of music and space. Sadly no Brian tonight, but an interesting and well versed piece which could easily have fallen within 10cc’s repertoire. And, talking of which that led to the ever popular, ‘I’m Not In Love’, which like the previous 10cc number had the audience up on their feet dancing and feeling the love that the song can engender.
With the audience in good mood and good voice, a visit to Graham’s latest album was required with the bouncy, ‘That’s Love Right There’, a number with a jazzy piano introduction and an upbeat soft shoe shuffle feel, containing a humorous lyric which is not unexpected from Grahams work, despite the underlying message of long term love and the missing of a partner whilst away on the road. It’s probably best not to ask for anecdotes about underpants and bars of chocolate though.
With the good feeling increasing it was time to revisit an earlier song written for the Hollies, in ‘Bus Stop’, a big hit for them and the song that Graham played whilst being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
As the evening drew towards an end, and with the announcement of “I think you’ll know this one” the audience were again up on their feet for ‘The Things We Do For Love’, with all band members now completely caught up in the moment and it was clear that as the temperature in the room rose so was the ambience and good feeling being shown by the audience to the band.
Finishing the set with a couple of new numbers, there wasn’t even time for them to leave the stage and with the fans stamping and shouting for more, with a shrug of, “we’ll carry on regardless” piled into two encores, firstly ‘Ready To Go Home’, another number co-written with Andrew Gold and perhaps the one sadder number on view tonight in light of the content being about the passing into death. Though if that quietened the proceedings for a few minutes it didn’t last long as the familiar reggae oriented chords of ‘Dreadlock Holiday’ had everyone up dancing and then the band leaving the stage to an incredibly rapturous applause.
What was clear from this show was the extent and dexterity of Graham Gouldman’s songwriting ability. Of course there were the expected hits, but the quality of the material played, more than showcased his ability and had many fans leaving stating that “they did not know he wrote that”. Altogether an evening of quite incredible musicianship, bonhomie and fun. Despite this not being an electric show it did not reduce the enjoyment of the music one iota and in fact it was refreshing to hear familiar songs played with variation and freshness, allowing their character to develop despite their age. If you get a chance to see other dates on this tour, before the electric 10cc juggernaut comes rolling through the UK again, then do so. You won’t regret it.
Graham Gouldman & band:
Graham Gouldman (bass, 6 & 12 string acoustic guitar)
Iain Hornal (bass, 6 & 12 string acoustic guitar, ukulele)
Keith Hayman (bass, 6 string acoustic guitar, keyboards)
Dave Cobby (percussion)
Graham Gouldman setlist:
‘Pamela Pamela’ [Wayne Fontana]
‘Heart Full Of Soul’ [The Yardbirds]
‘No Milk Today’ [Herman’s Hermits]
‘Good Morning Judge’ [10cc]
‘Sunburn’ [‘Sunburn Soundtrack’]
‘Love’s Not For Me’ [‘Animalympics Soundtrack’]
‘Look Through Any Window’ [The Hollies]
‘Daylight’ [Solo Single]
‘Dancing Days’ [Solo Single]
‘Bridge To Your Heart’ [Wax]
‘Floating In Heaven’ [Solo- non album single]
‘I’m Not In Love’ [10cc]
‘That’s Love Right There’ [Solo Album – ‘Modesty Forbids’]
‘Bus Stop’ [The Hollies]
‘The Things We Do For Love’ [10cc]
‘Standing Next To Me’ [Solo Album – ‘Modesty Forbids’]
‘Memory Lane’ [Solo Album – ‘Love & Work’]
‘For Your Love’ [The Yardbirds]
(encore)
‘Ready To Go Home’ [Solo Album – ‘And Another Thing’]
‘Dreadlock Holiday’ [10cc]
