She’ll have no crap games with sharpies and frauds
Lorenz Hart (adapted)
And she won’t go to Harlem in Lincolns or Fords
And she won’t dish the dirt with the DUP broads
That’s why the lady is a tramp
With Moonray‘s pianist Joe Hill from England back again from last year in duo with local singer Andrew Irwin home from Germany at the mic the crowd’s getting bigger, some 100 or so were in. The staff even brought in more furniture for latecomers to make a little more leg and wiggle room. Pub-winebar boss Norman Coalter got a namecheck and paid tribute to Irwin.
Think Bill Evans and Tony Bennett a little but Irwin’s voice isn’t a jazz voice. Nevertheless his operatically trained style works well in this light music eclectic setting and he’s too good a singer just to do the Rat Pack mannerisms like so many do.
The Divine Comedy choice – a breakout local rock band from the 90s whose early gigs included a Skintown pub called the Vintage during Gailey Quinn’s storied tenure as landlord – this time was Scott Walker loving Neil Hannon’s ‘National Express’ (the audience “ba- ba-bap”-ing along back unprovoked) and other highlights included a take on Rodgers and Hart’s ‘The Lady is a Tramp’ – a satirical local political twist fed in to the lyrics deftly gauged:
The quality of the piano was a bit better this time and in support singer and harmonica player Fermanagh Feis winner Abbey Wilson is growing in confidence accompanied firstly by her dad on guitar and later by Hill whose understated style reminds me of John Turville‘s approach a little in the John Taylor vein (who covered ‘Alice’ with Norma Winstone on Like Song, Like Weather) – a piano setting suits the teenager more.
- The review above was run last year – it gives you an idea of what to expect at Sinatra in Saddlers the title for Friday’s show. Tickets