Stephen Langstaff at the o2 Academy in 2009. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Originally published by L.S. Media. July 7th 2010.
I last caught up with Stephen Langstaff just under a year ago when he was about to go on his eagerly awaited Academy tour at four different venues. This tour opened up more doors to the young Liverpool singer/songwriter and in the following year he has had the distinct pleasure of opening for the Lightning Seeds on their latest tour, culminating in a fantastic critically received gig at the Cadogan Hall, London.
He has also had success with his beautiful melody of Saw the Angels crashing the top ten (reaching the dizzy heights of number four) in the Amazon Chart in the last few months. Now Stephen is gearing for a fantastic few weeks as part of this year’s Liverpool Summer Pops, first as support for Status Quo at the Echo Arena and then headlining his own show at the Stanley Theatre at the University of Liverpool on the 30th July.
Over a quick cup of coffee I asked him how he had dealt with the thought of chart success, his trademark smile broadened as he explained, “Of how it had made me more aware of what can be achieved when using your own steam to get stuff done”. Stephen has intrigued me as a singer/songwriter since I first had the pleasure of seeing him support the Bangles in July 2008. What struck me most, apart from his obvious talent, was his complete honesty and drive. His willingness to admit how much he loves making audiences’ enjoy his shows and none of the pretence that comes with it.
Before we got onto the subject of this year’s Summer Pops I asked him if the tour with the Lightning Seeds and in particular Ian Broudie had been an education for him and if anything out of the ordinary had happened. Stephen regales me with tales in his usual self effacing and shy demeanour of how it was a special moment when Ian Broudie asked him if he could introduce him before the gig in Sheffield and the memory of a woman coming up to him after the London show and telling him “I don’t buy support acts C.D’s but you’re the first one in the fifteen years of going to gigs that I want to buy.”
All this shows how much Stephen is respected as an artist, by the general public and by the wider musician society. The parting shot to this part of the conversation was perhaps the most telling, “I feel as though the Academy gigs knocked on the door, where as the support gigs with the Lightning Seeds unveiled me”.
How does he feel to be doing two shows as part of this year’s Summer Pops festival? Although he feels nervous about opening for Status Quo he is looking forward to the honour of opening for such a prestigious band whose fans are just as passionate as his own. He comes across as more relaxed about headlining his own gig.
He tells me that, “the show will be a stripped down affair but with the added bonus of some new material that hasn’t even been recorded in the studio yet”. This seems an exciting prospect and one that shows how confident this man really is about delivering his songs to the audience.
I teasingly asked Stephen if there was another ambition that he now wanted to fulfill, as the last time we had managed to sit down and grab a few words he had expressed a wish to finally play at the University of Liverpool. After the briefest moments of thought he answered in the only way he could, that amongst the top ambitions he had “was to play and record at Tori Amos’s studio in Cornwall”. Certainly Seth Lakeman was able to and if Seth can do it why not Stephen!
It’s not hard to see why this is an ambition of his, his music has been likened in style and in delivery to Ms Amos, something more and more critics are noticing. Does it bother him to have these comparisons with her? “How can it” he answers candidly, “She has such artistic power, I aspire to that”.
Although Stephen’s time is cut short (he was on a dinner break from the job that pays the rent, for now) I had once more gleaned a little insight into this very talented musician and realised how gutted I was not to be part of the crowd at either of his two gigs this year. Surely his sets, eagerly awaited certainly, will be yet another notch on this young man’s determined road to being the best of his generation. If nothing else, it’s going to be a fun ride watching him achieve the inevitable.
Ian D. Hall