Review: Seán McGowan at Joiners

Newly crowned ‘Britain’s Best Small Venue’ the Joiners sold out last Friday as local musician Seán McGowan and friends presented a night of acoustic music.

Seán McGowan after the show – Thanks to Andy Poole for the photo

The event kicked off with singer-songwriter Tim O, whose performance gained strength throughout his set, with songs reminiscent of cult favourite Beans on Toast.

Rob the Liar continued the ‘man with a guitar’ theme, singing about his somewhat tumultuous life in a middle class accent. His style seemed to split the crowd, however the people who got the joke definitely enjoyed his show.

As Gaz Brookfield took to the stage, the alcohol was beginning to kick in for much of the crowd and this was visible in their appreciation of his music. He easily engaged the audience with his catchy guitar playing and sing-along-able songs.

Special guest Sam Duckworth, also known as ‘Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.’, used the gig to play some of his old favourites, kicking off with War of the Worlds and going on to play some tracks from his upcoming album. The end of his set included Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager Pt 1, which is always guaranteed to have the entire crowd singing along with “Ba ba ba ba ba” (I guess that makes more sense if you know the song!).

Finally, Southampton’s own Seán McGowan took to the stage, ready to charm the by now fairly drunk Joiners crowd with his own danceable brand of Billy Bragg style songs.

Seán’s performance, with a full band including Joiners staff, was going well until guitarist Dean broke a string, Sam Duckworth stepping in to play roadie and fix the issue while Sean encouraged the audience to tease Dean with chants. Once back in action, the band went from strength to strength, with a great deal of dancing and crowd participation. Particular crowd favourites were Life and This Old Town.

As the night wound down, all the performers were happy to chat with everyone and were obviously still running on adrenaline. Who could blame them after the great evening they’d provided!