Shimeon live at the Hole Note Acoustic Club 18/7/10
Upon entering into the quaint Yorkshire village of Hebden Bridge, I finally found the Hole In’t wall in much anticipation of hearing and seeing Shimeon perform solo in an intimate venue such as this. The Hole In’t Wall is one of those venues which has the makings of a great night, with its visually low lit atmosphere and upper room. A support act remarked, “I like the wallpaper, haven’t seen it since 1972” and another, Shimeon, “You look cool man, like Johnny Depp”. So there you have it, Shimeon is cool and his set of warm, relaxed, yet explosive content and lyrics either captivate you or chill you to the bone. His guitar playing and craft is second to none and his songwriting, awesome.
Shimeon’s latest album, “Behind The Soomer Sun ‘Revived’ is brimmed with beautiful, simple melodies which when all said and done are all but simple. Shimeon is deep, and one wonders what lays behind his songs and where they come from. Shimeon is one of those few artists who can change the climate and the presence of all mood by merely belting out one line from his repertoire. Shimeon displayed this at the Hole Note Acoustic Club, with a set which covered carefully selected songs from ‘Masquerade’ and ‘Behind The Soomer Sun ‘Revived’.
Clad casual and almost entirely in black, he belted a fine selection of songs from across the intimate sea of heads. The introduction to his opening track, Just What I Do’ which was nicely followed by an ever mellow version of ‘My Heavens In The Sky’. A harsh ‘Will In Chains’ and the beautiful ‘Never Forget’ complete with harmonica and warm delivery. The strikingly beautiful premier of ‘All I Want is You’ from Shimeon’s current studio album in the making, was second to none, followed by the reflective genius of ‘Strange World’ and concluded with a chirpy and charming ‘Just a Little Lonely’ complete with its line, “Its much too late I have to run, I have to go but I’m glad you’ve come, everybody’s gone to sleep, and I’ve begun to count the sheep” Shimeon said goodbye and left us wanting to come back for more.
Altogether a great, memorable performance by one of the UK’s finest songwriters.
Rich Bantain
