Pearl Charles Live @ 100 Club
An unforgettable night and this was only half-time in her ongoing UK tour.
I knew the 100 Club was a famous venue but it has some physical strengths on account of it being wider than it is long. The stage is set along the long side of the rectangle, unusually, which means that everyone feels closer to the performance. There are a couple of significant square pillars in the middle, but there was room enough to move around during the night to see from every angle.
I much prefer this arrangement for a smaller venue that the stage down there at the bottom of the narrow end, which can make even smaller audiences struggle to get close enough to their favourite musicians. The club also has two bars, one at each end, so there is never a queue for a drink. Even a sold-out night like this still felt intimate and relaxed with plenty of room to explore the many photos on the walls during the breaks.
Gia Ford
Gia Ford was a revelation. She got straight into the music but when she started talking I immediately realised that I was in the presence of another person from Yorkshire. Her Freddie Mercury stage outfit (yellow jacket) and her sharp-suited photo-shoots called to mind Bryan Ferry and Robert Palmer. The live show was louder and heavier than the records that I listened to in the car on the way home. She has a record deal with Chrysalis, home of so many amazing British acts through the decades. It would be misleading to describe hers as a support set. Gia brought along her full band, including a virtuoso and stylish lead guitarist, a committed vest-topped drummer and a female bassist. Everything looked and sounded brilliant and I am so pleased to have discovered Gia through Pearl. Give her a listen!
Pearl Charles
My third Pearl Charles show. My first was at Moth Club a year ago, and I saw her and Michael Rault support Neal Francis last October. You can catch up below.
Paul Dettmann
Paul Dettmann
How to follow all of that?! Pearl had brought her full band including the legendary Michael Rault on lead guitar and vocals. I recognised most of the members from Moth Club. This is a tight unit and they were thorough in preparing their equipment ready for the show ahead.
The guys played songs from all three of Pearl's albums. I have recently been listening to her debut EP in which it is possible to see her style emerging. It might have been fun to hear one of those, or one of the new ones I heard in October, but this set was tightly orchestrated for impact.
Everything went like clockwork and afterwards I tried telling Pearl it was the best show I had seen yet... only for her to start telling me she thought it might be her best UK show at the same time. And if you missed our little announcement, she has written a foreword (two in fact!) for my upcoming Fleetwood Mac books. Yes, Christine is her fave.
Pearl always seems so chilled and relaxed on stage so it is difficult to get a read on if she is nervous or not. But she nailed every song, Michael nailed every solo, to cheers and whoops from his fans in the audience, and by the time they left the stage before the encore I started to think that this might be the show.
The encore began with Smoke in the Limousine, a quiet song that is easy to overlook. This was the moment when I knew this was not going to be just another gig. The whole crowd seemed swept up in the moment. The live edition is just Pearl and Michael as a duo and is therefore more intimate than the full band songs.
I cannot remember what happened first but the crowd spontaneously sang along to the last couple of lines just as Michael walked over and planted a kiss on Pearl's cheek! I heard a few reactions to that, whether of surprise I do not know, but the duo usually try to keep things businesslike on stage. Just for that minute, the mask slipped. All of us got swept up in the moment. Time stopped. Live music won the day.
The band returned for Step Too Far and the finale to end them all, a song that has become the anthem and the signature all in one: Only For Tonight. I don't really know what happened during that one, it felt like we all danced and sang along, even those of us who cannot dance or sing. If you are not sure where to start your Pearl Charles adventure, Only For Tonight is a surefire winner.
Paul Dettmann
