A Love Letter To Southport - Polly & The Billets Doux live at Grateful Fred's

Well this Wednesday night was going to start as a battle of wills between me and the M6. The M6 was determined I wasn't going to get to Southport & I was of a mind that I was going to bloody well get there if I had to go via Leeds. The lure of great music dragged me through the mire of detour after detour and finally with a little time to spare I reached Mecca(No I wasn't going to the Bingo smart arse) It certainly felt like an arduous pilgrimage to a special place anyway.

As you know I am full on Rock 'n' Roll with my Queens of The Stoneage beanie so proceeded to order the only drink that fits...... A cappuccino.... What??

So, caffeine induced I was as ready as a crazed squirrel for the magical music ahead.

As is only right at a Grateful Fred night the evening is started with the gracious hosts The Grateful Fred band. The Freds set the tone beautifully easing us in massaging our ears & putting everyone in a good mood with their antics on and off stage. Colin, Karine & Les were creating lovely harmonies which considering Karine & Colin were recovering from the type of tropical diseases often found in Formby(I might have made that bit up it was probably a chest thing??) was pretty impressive. As usual Fretful Ged (Gerard) was on fire floating up and down the fretboard continually wandering over and joking with heartbeat of the band Frank. So as usual a top start...

Next up after a short break was the 'Southbound Attic Band'....I know top name isn't it. The 'Southbound Attic Band' is comprised of Barry Jones Vocals/Guitar/Harmonica and Ronnie Clark Bass/Vocals. There seemed to be some in the audience that were there to enjoy this duo & I soon found out why. Within seconds I was tapping my foot along enjoying their infectious sound. Throughout the set they had the audience bouncing, howling &  tooting along & I particularly enjoyed the stories behind the songs linking everything together. I was totally engrossed in the songs and my personal favourite from their set was The Lone Crow. The Southbound Attic Band are regularly found at View Two Gallery which is a wonderful venue in Liverpool as well as festivals up and down the country and after seeing them live myself I would definitely recommend you go check them out, you will have a great night(practice howling & tooting you don't want to sound like a strangled chicken when you join in ;]).

 

Vid Link

 

http://youtu.be/U66W6puLIYg

So onto the nights headline artists Polly & The Billets Doux. If you have read any of these blogs before you will know I'm all feeling and no facts( I don't take notes on setlists or research backgrounds or other 'journo' type stuff. It's just what I feel or remember from the night) but I was intrigued by the name 'Polly & The Billets Doux' so I googled 'Billets Doux' apparently it means love letter in French... Well there you go another first something almost educational in one of these blogs..
After imparting some real information about the name of the band I should probably balance things up by pretending I didn't check the names of the band members Polly(Vocals), Dan(Bass), Steeny(Guitar) & Ben(Drums) by telling you there was Polly on vocals, The Billet twins on Bass and  Guitar & Doux on drums(I feel better now I've made something up, thanks for indulging me).
I didn't know what to expect at all from the band as I love listening to a band live before checking the recorded catalogue but I thought it would probably be an acoustic Americana kind of evening......
and as the set started I thought I had presumed right.  Straight away the silky smooth vocal of Polly reminded me of Morcheeba  the tones melting into your ears and putting you at ease with the world. Don't be fooled though Polly is a wolf in sheeps clothing because when it comes to driving the songs up a notch she bares her teeth and delivers all the bite required to keep you in the grip of the song. It was a totally brilliant contrast and quite a shock when it first happens. The band delivered beautiful harmonies with a great subtle drum & double bass undertone while the soundscape was finished off with some tantalising guitar work. As the set progressed we were treated to some flamingo style guitar... I know ... you think I mean Flamenco when actually what I mean is Polly standing on one leg while playing the guitar like a Flamingo, a touch of slidey blues and then gradually we moved into rock style 5 minute guitar soloing. It was brilliant I could actually feel my grin getting bigger and bigger as the night edged forward. It was as if they were musically charming the edge of my mouth upwards. By the time they were into a very different take of 'House of The Rising Sun' I was totally with them immersed in wonderful guitar work from Steeny(I know it makes me sound like I know him but I lifted his nickname straight off Facebook ;]) Polly managing to do the most graceful looking tambourine playing I've seen and the rythym of the drums and bass just driving the song like an engine. Not sure if you can tell but I loved it as soon as I could I was over buying the latest CD.
So why are you still reading this you should be on some ticket website by now booking your own tickets to go see the awesome Polly & The Billets Doux.... Go... Go...

Vid Link

http://youtu.be/_wIRdc6Njzk

 



Well wasn't that a great night.. If you haven't seen Grateful Fred at The Atkinson, Southbound Attic Band or Polly & The Billets Doux go find them people & if you have seen them you'll know you need to go see them again.

For amazing nights at The Atkinson with Grateful Fred
http://gratefulfred.co.uk/

The Southbound Attic Band can be found here on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/thesouthboundatticband

And to enjoy Polly & The Billets Doux this is the place to check out
http://pollyandthebilletsdoux.co.uk/