When Site Manager, Olivia Luder, found out one of her favourite mopey musical maestros, Tom McRae, was playing Exeter, she persuaded her friend, Harriet Wigmore, to join her at the Phoenix. Here’s what they had to say about the seasoned ballad blaster…
Olivia:
Confession: I’m not really that much of a music person. However, if I’m a sucker for any kind of music, it’s got to be mopey acoustic guitar ballads (I know, it’s embarrassing).
When I saw that Tom McRae was going to be at the Phoenix, I knew I had to go and drag Harriet along with me.
Tom McRae has been around for yonks – you’ve probably heard his music on some TV show or another. His speciality is mournful ballads in the minor key that softly tell of lost loves, or soul-searching journeys – or some equally downbeat subject.
So it was quite a surprise to find out that in-person, McRae is not only pretty upbeat, but also downright hilarious. To me, his songs had projected someone more lost and haunted. McRae may still be both of those things, but his charming ease with the audience shone throughout the evening. He even admitted to being a Barry Manilow fan (though, thankfully, he denied any warmth towards One Direction).
His music delivered on the mournful front, and more. McRae has a heart-stoppingly beautiful voice – both piercingly emotional and effortlessly controlled. My favourites of the evening were “2nd Law”, a beautifully delicate song about the solace found in being alone, and “Bloodless”, a song that plaintively asks the listener “what am I feeling?”. I also really enjoyed the sweetly plodding “Alphabet of Hurricanes”, a long song he wrote on a train journey across the United States.
The gig included audience participation, which was achieved most successfully with “End of the World (Dose me up)”. Annoyingly, there was a particularly rowdy pair who decided to participate by attempting to clap along to every song and repeatedly asking McRae about Barry Manilow. Harriet and I stuck to what we’d been asked to do (lots of clapping and humming), partly because heckling isn’t our thing and partly because doing it properly was so much fun.
I would definitely recommend heading to any gig of Tom McRae’s, not only because he is an absurdly talented musician but also because he’s much, much more than just a mopey guitarist.
Harriet:
Being persuaded to go along to a gig with someone, when you don’t really know the band or performer is always a bit of a risk. Thankfully for me, seeing Tom McRae at the Phoenix turned out to be a fantastic recommendation.
Before the 4th May, I had listened to no more than three or four of Tom McRae’s tracks. Certainly I had liked what I heard enough to agree to go and see him live, but I wasn’t obsessively clicking through playlists either. His music sounded more appropriate for a film sound track, than a live, solo performance, and I struggled to see how he could keep an audience sufficiently entertained and enthused.
It is fair to say that his recorded music just doesn’t do him justice. His self-proclaimed “songs of death, despair, and regret” are unbelievably intense, and it is only when experienced live that it is possible to appreciate them fully. Songs like “Lord, How Long?” and “American Spirit” are lullaby-like and almost hypnotic for their simplicity and repetition. “2nd Law” in particular was a highlight for its unbelievable beauty.
His marginally more upbeat tracks – including “One Mississippi” and “Won’t Lie” – changed the pace considerably, and brought the audience back from the sleepy atmosphere he had created. In lieu of the cellist and keyboard player Tom McRae usually performs with, the audience were asked to join in, clapping, humming, singing, ‘bop-bopping’ and whistling the refrains for a number of songs. By involving the audience to such a degree he managed to create a truly comfortable, intimate experience.
Olivia Luder, Site Manager, and Harriet Wigmore
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