Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The gig goer will sit proudly on a stool and sometimes proclaim to any who listen about the time they once did two gigs in one day. It is an act that deserves respect; that they should be willing to travel to catch a show in one part of the country and then get back nearer home to revel in another show. It doesn’t happen all that often as time constraints are such that it just doesn’t fit into the 24 hours allotted to us to be able to pull it off.
For the artist, two gigs in one day is much more feasible, it is an act sometimes placed upon them at festivals. Though to play two gigs in different cities is enough to make your head spin and three, well…three gigs is something that would have many other professions shaking their head in astonishment. For the very talented Tallulah Rendall, it must have seemed like a dream as she stood performing inside the coffee shop attached to the University of Liverpool, a dream which captivated those who wondered in appreciation just how she remained upbeat and fully disposed to break hearts and place smiles upon the audience after playing at Keele and the Manchester Metropolitan University as part of the Coffee House Sessions.
The incessant sound of grinding coffee, the fascination of sitting round tables tasting the aroma in the air of tea being poured and the chatter from those who truly only came in to the coffee house to restore their faith in both humanity and their own 21st Century student beliefs of radicalism in the form of a cup with a logo stamped upon it, all soon faded away as background noise is apt to do when being punished by the sound of a woman performing with style and poise a selection of songs from her ever growing repertoire.
Aided by Nick Schlesinger on drums, Tallulah Rendall slowly and surely built the bond between audience member and artist in the growing gloom of a November evening to the point where you couldn’t help but check your diary, get a pencil out and write over every single page, “Important, check website to see if doing longer night of music; travel not an issue.”
With half a dozen songs prepped and armed, Ms. Rendall took the crowd, forgotten cups of expensive coffee hanging precariously on the edges of tables, their dimming allure being replaced by the brightness, the pain and anguish and the sheer wonderful wounded animal like growl in anger appeal of the musician, on a tour of the songs, Lost On The Way, All In You, Pieces, the thrilling Black Seagull, She Rises Up and the stunning Canary.
Tours are meant to be fun, no matter where the nights take you and by the look in Tallulah Rendall’s eyes as she beat the life out of Nick Schlesinger’s drum with a spare stick, that despite the grinding of coffee and the hissing of water and the sweat of assignments due running down the faces of those students who had taken time out from being lectured, that despite travelling many miles and performing in three different areas of the country, she had enjoyed it immensely.
A cracking evening, one in which just captured the music superbly!
Ian D. Hall