Just Jo: Two of the four.

Last week was always going to be a little bit mental, I had 4 gigs to go to, and this post is about the first two.

First up was Ben Howard on Wednesday at The Old Firestation in Bournemouth supported by Michael Cassidy. I went with my housemate Gem and my good friend Tom and we managed to get to the front so us shorties could actually see what was going on! Michael Cassidy was awesome, just one man, his guitar and his beautiful Scottish accent - I bought his EP afterwards and have been listening to it a lot, the song 15 years is infectious, but the other songs are just as great too. A muscle through resilient crowds for a quick loo break and it was then time for Ben Howard with his band - India and Chris. Now, Ben is a lot more popular since I saw him in Bath in April. It was the day after our gig that he'd just done his first session on Radio 2 and from then on he's escalated to Radio 1 airplay and now it seems the world and his dog know about him. So, naturally this gig was more rammed than in Bath with a crowd that was much rowdier but on the whole the gig was incredible. The starting song 'Old Pine' was just beautiful and I will admit I got a bit excited when he did one of my favourite songs off the album called 'The Fear' - it was amazing. We all came out buzzing and I am pretty sure that all our friend's are sick to the back teeth of us talking about him, but he's worth it. I love him. He's touring again in February and I've just bought tickets to see him in Portsmouth - already cannot wait.

http://www.musicglue.net/benhoward/

The next day I went to my second gig to see Scott Matthews, once again at The Old Firestation. This time I went with Tom but also with my friend Rob. I'd only been introduced to Scott Matthews about a month previous so I didn't know much about him compared to Ben Howard and had only listened to his songs a few times over on Spotify. Walking into the venue, there was half the amount of people there to the previous gig, but this wasn't a bad thing. It was so chilled out, a lot of people were just sitting down and the atmosphere was incredibly relaxed.

The support act was Lotte Mullen - her, an electric guitar and her drummer. She was just really nice and very easy to listen to. Then Scott Matthews came on, the intro to the first song 'Myself Again' off his new album sent shivers down my spine, it was hauntingly beautiful. Never have I seen anyone pick a guitar like that before, it was amazing. However, there was an issue with the sound in that he started singing and there was some reverb on his voice which killed the mood slightly, so he stopped playing in a rather entertaining fashion but once he started up again therewas an instant switch back to the stillness in the room as before. I can't really sing his praises enough, I can only say thank you to Rob who first played him to me and the other guys who have also praised his musical talent. The rest of the gig was just as awesome and afterwards I got 2 of his albums, both of which he signed after the 3 of us met him for a chat. One of the best moments was when he initiated a group hug with us - it was just awesome. We had wondered why he was taking so long to talk to everyone, and with us being at the back of the queue we did wait a while, but it was worth it. He was genuinely interested in what we were saying and was a genuinely lovely guy. A little photo of us all marked the end of the evening. He said he was hoping to tour again next year so fingers crossed I'll get the chance to go again. I can safely say I'm definitely now a convert to his music for life.