Tommy Scott performing at Leaf, Liverpool. March 2015. Photograph reproduced with kind permission by Adran Wharton.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The flickering light supplied by the one reading lamp placed by an antique looking but initially comfortable chair, an audience waiting patiently, the sharp suit complementing the darkness that was settling in as Winter’s icy grip was beginning to thaw, two highly praised musicians waiting by his side, a small inflatable bird perched in his eye line. This was all that was needed to further enhance the ambience and feel of a wonderful 19th Century night of warning, musings and acoustically charged music was for Tommy Scott to deliver his evening at Leaf on Bold Street in the stylised tones of Edgar Allen Poe and a mysterious knocking on the lift at the back from a talkative raven.
This though was no journey into a period melodrama, no chance meeting in which dear Eleanor was to rise from the dead and wonder why Space’s much loved vocalist was on stage with only one member of the band alongside him, this was a night to revel in the acoustic happenings of a man, who by his own admittance had only ever done one night like it before, it certainly didn’t show and it may have been a surprise to the appreciative crowd if he had done so.
Never one to be anything but resolute and full of determination when on stage, Tommy Scott, accompanied by the great Phil Hartley and Paul Hemmings, delved right across the Space discography and even highlighted a couple of new numbers, of which went down so well, that surely talk of a new album from the musician must be a foregone conclusion.
Opening up the evening with the tracks Begin Again and Money, the threesome, relaxed, somewhat elegant in their repose, made sure that the evening kicked off with the very best of intentions and made sure that no matter what the songs played acoustically were just as vital, just as full of verve and spirit as if the whole band had been up on stage and floor in Leaf bounced to the point where tea would not have to stirred, they would arrive in perfect state of agitation.
With songs such as Johnny Thug, Avenging Angels, Frightened Horses, I Love You More Than Football, the exotic and highly charged Female of the Species, Neighbourhood and Mister Psycho being played in what may be considered in a strange fashion, but in which actually the strains of greatness and timing were exemplified to the point of bursting, Tommy Scott delivered away from electric hum and certainly gave the gathered crowd an enormous lot of fun.
It is arguably always a mistake to miss a Space gig, it is now surely against laws of nature to miss a Tommy Scott acoustic session; the story teller has arrived in a new format and a raven knocks at the door.
Ian D. Hall