Live review - Beverley Craven

Artist:Beverley Craven


Venue:Alnwick Playhouse

Town:Alnwick

Date:26/09/09

Website:http://www.beverleycraven.com



Having loved Promise Me since it was in the charts when I was just ten years old, I was more than just a little excited to see Beverley play live, almost twenty years on, a return spurred by her daughters growing up and her having overcome breast cancer in 2005. The only problem with really looking forward to a gig is the chance that it will not live up to your expectations, but thankfully, Beverley did not disappoint!

This was my first gig at Alnwick Playhouse and I was incredibly impressed with it as a venue, from the acoustics to the tiered seating throughout.

Dubbed ‘An evening with Beverley Craven,’ there was no support act, which spurned the first joke of the evening as on entering the stage a comment was made to the effect of; “Thanks to the invisible swim team who opened the show – oh, what, you missed them?” Apparently the previous night’s opener was unicycling fleas – frankly I think we were cheated there!

Opening proceedings with a song about her husband, Mr Know It All, she joked, “He’s alright, really,” informing us he has written songs for Pixie Lott and Natalie Imbruglia to name but two.

Love is the Light afforded her saxophonist his first chance to shine alongside her easy manner on stage. Introducing her band; Simon on sax, Tim on drums and Felix on bass, it was immediately obvious that she thinks the world of them and they her. All have played with the cream of the musical crop, from Duran to Duran to Nik Kershaw, even the Billy Elliott musical!

Telling us it was about the first man who ever broke her heart, she dedicated the well known 90’s classic Love Scenes, to anyone who has ever experienced unrequited love. As she began to sing it was obvious that this was one of the eagerly anticipated songs of the evening, and that neither her smile, nor her voice have changed much in nineteen years.

Woman to Woman, she told us is, is about a good friend, who we’d know – Alison from Goldfrappe. It struck me as she sang, that probably every woman in that room has been, or will be, in that same situation.

Everlasting Love, written for the film First Knight, but not used, was beautiful, followed by another stirring movie write, for The Theory of Flight. I had to wonder which songs had been chosen instead as I thought both were fabulous.

Moving from keyboards to piano, Beverley told us Mollie’s Song, was written for her first daughter when she was two and a half – she’s 17 now – the baby Beverley was pregnant with at the Brits. How time flies!

Appropriately, this was followed by Without Me, a song she wrote for all three daughters. She apologised that it was a little dark, explaining that she was ill five years ago (she was diagnosed with breast cancer) and she wrote it for them at a point in time when she thought she might not make it. Knowing its origins made this live performance all the more poignant and suddenly it was easy to understand why, twenty years ago, she was so torn between her career and her children. There was no doubt from the atmosphere in the room during this song, that there was a unanimous sense of relief that she, in fact, did make it, and was here to tell us the story, in part through this beautiful song.

Opening the second half with the upbeat Rainbows, the first single from the new CD, I suspect everyone could guess it was inspired after her illness; ‘There are no rainbows, without the rain; ’ advice we could all do well to remember at times.

Next came Joey, about her first dog; touching I admit, but not one of my favourites.

My favourite, Fun, Fun, Fun, from the new CD, followed, Beverley preceeding the song by telling us it is about a friend who had an affair. It’s a wonderfully written piece, with just a hint of resentment at having been involved, through her knowledge of it.

Another of her most well known songs came in the form of Holding On, as she joked, ‘This was a single, what fifty years ago?!’ It was fabulous to hear it live after all this time, especially when her delivery remains so true to the original.

Teasing us that we would also know this person, but she was saying nothing more, she played another song, Never Be The Same, about a friend who had an affair. She said her husband always says you can’t reheat an old soufflé but she believes you can!

Simply stating, “You might know this one,” she launched into a stunning performance of Promise Me, doubtless the song everyone had waited all night to hear. I’m not sure words can describe that first time you hear a song after waiting years, but if you closed your eyes, it was like going back in time to that Brits performance. Maybe there is no better compliment I can give than that. It also made a refreshing change not having to wait until the encore for that song we’d been waiting for!

The band exited the stage, leaving Beverley alone at the piano. Appropriately, she chose to end the night with the song that began it all, I Listen to the Rain, which she first played for Warner Chappell, way back when.

They all returned to the stage, Beverley joking, “We were just there, you know – it’s silly really, isn’t it, the going off and coming on again thing.” Everyone laughed when Felix began to introduce the wrong song, prompting jokes of him doing a solo, before they closed out the night with Lost Without You.

Everyone present had clearly more than enjoyed their evening with Beverley Craven and been very impressed at her return to form. Hopefully, and signs are good, that she will be touring again soon, maybe even next year. So, Beverley, if you are reading this, you can rest assured that we will be Holding On until we see you in the North East next time. Oh and I would love to see those unicycling fleas...



Helen Mitchell