Micky P. Kerr and Chris Helme at The Faversham, Leeds
Micky P Kerr
There is a charm about Micky P Kerr as he takes to the sizable Faversham stage shunning his guitar and sitting on a high chair starting with poetry but he doesn't get anywhere with people talking and laughing at the back he shuns the serious forgetting the second verse of his Credit Crunch Christmas poem and running through the song I'm in awe of you eager to get onto what he calls his silly songs.
The charming humour of the shambling poet is lost and Kerr - who admits a hostility to the buffonlike hecklers - tries to pass himself off as arrogant with tongue-in-cheek but aim askew. One can imagine that on other nights he goes down a storm but not on this Sunday evening in Leeds.
Chris Helme
Leeds's Faversham is - according to Chris Helme so cool you have to wear an overcoat and the former Seahorses front man's new brand of bluesy guitaring is yoked into something altogether more honest.
Helme is an interesting performer in the midst of reclaiming his back catalogue from the monstrous ego of John Squire that haunts his past. He plays through a good chunk of his 1990s offerings musing that Blinded By the Sun was written when he was 23 in Brighton and that he is surprised anyone wants to hear it. He is less pleased to have to play the obviously Squire Love Is the Law but does do to earn the freedom to run through stomp Be My Husband and the Lorali.
It is then that Helme seems most comfortable for sure but he takes requests for Seahorses B-Sides - "Funny, my songs always ended up as B-sides" - and is pleased to play them slowly clawing back as his own each one.
Permanent link to Helme claws back his history
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February 10th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Having seen Chris Helme three times now, I’ve become accustomed to his gigs and the skeleton set of songs he builds on to to produce his set. Third time around may not have pulled any surprises out of the bag but I’m always surprised in myself how much I like his voice and also that he gives every song his all, every time. This is what keeps me coming back. It’s not so much for groundbreaking material but for the guaranteed heartfeltedness of his performance. I’d recommend catching him and his much worn guitar if you can.
Can’t say the say for Mickey P Kerr though. I think very much a case of seen it once, seen it all as far as his performance is concerned. Sure it’s amusing on the first watch but the same themes to poke fun at keep reoccurring and soon become as stale and although it was his first and also unrehearsed gig of the year, i didn’t see him altering his act much for 2009 if this was left over from 2008.