Gruff Rhys was back in town with ¾ of Y Niwl as his backing band and the animal like drummer Kliph (Boy! can he bash those drums!). As it was Aluntanlan’s birthday I made him a cake and dropped it off earlier “Don’t miss Gwenno Saunders tonight – she’s great”
Gwenno was indeed great. “All revolutions start with ordinary people”. Like a Welsh Julee Cruise, her dreamy vocals drifted on an electronic wave with odd films of 60’s America and buildings being blown up, projected onto her. “This one’s about when the robots take over and the only people who survive are the ones who speak Welsh…..” Got her ‘Y Dydd Olaf’ CD – one to watch!
Gruff’s ‘American Interior’ show has grown to be part history lesson, part road trip, part stand up comedy with some great tunes to fill it out. Tonight was more polished than I’ve seen him before but still had a slightly knowing shambolic charm to it. John Evans story is an amazing one and his telling of it with the aid of a projected backdrop shouldn’t be missed. Bass player Sion and Alun even got to do a bit of acting which went down well.
They did a long old set whilst telling the story, then came back for more. “Sorry for all you hard working people who have to get up tomorrow but we’re doing the long show tonight” before an extended ‘Skylon!’ and ‘Sensations in the Dark’ sent us home happy. A fantastic night!
No Gruff – THANK YOU!! Here’s a bit of their 6Music Festival set
Bob the Chiropodist