Bahamas, St Pancras Old Church, London

On a cold wet midweek evening there’s nothing better than a spot of music, aided and abetted by a civilised paper cup of red wine or canned lager courtesy of an un-expected entrance bar. For those of you who haven’t visited St Pancras Old Church before it’s an intimate venue which holds around 120 people, tea lights strategically placed around the edges and an altar fighting for space at the front with an old church piano. After a short break between performers proceedings were set for Bahamas who came out on stage flanked by a duo of black clad female singers who provided backing vocals and harmonies throughout. All three of them stood with military precision in front of a row of candles on large stands, occasionally swaying gently in sync with the music.

Tonight we were treated to a selection of tracks from his latest release ‘Barchords’ as well material drawn from his previous album ‘Pink Strat’, the latter of which he confessed to seldom playing live so the confidence with which these were dispatched is testament to the talent of the man. Starting with the gradual build and half spoken vocal of ‘Lost In The Light’ may have been a wrong move but an energetic ‘Already Yours’ brought proceedings quickly back on track. The wild abandon in his guitar playing was proof of his ability to throw of the confines of a song, the clever lyrical nugget of ”there’s no need to convert a believer,i’m already yours” given added resonance by the somewhat unusual; venue. One of the standout tracks from the new record is ‘Okay Alright I’m Alive’ was cleverly reworked to incorporate the female vocal parts, lifting what was already a charming song to new heights. With just an acoustic guitar by way of instrumentation we were encouraged to use our imagination on some of the songs although different sounds appeared organically courtesy of some interesting vocal manipulation, much to the amusement of many.

Mid-way through he performed a short solo set, showcasing clever guitar work on the emotive ‘You’re Bored, I’m Old’ and his skill for expressing the old age theme of unrequited love with succinctness on a rollicking quick-fire spin through’Sunshine Blues’. One of my favourite parts of the show however was the cutely humorous ‘Hockey Teeth’ which, possibly conscious of the freshly discovered younger audience members in the front row, he described as being about ‘hitting your teeth together when you’re going to have a nice kiss’ After declaring his wish to ‘try and fit in one more song before the bell tolls’ he launched into ‘Never Again’ complete with some unusual heavy breathing from his supporting cast, the track finishing just as the chimes started to ring out much to the amusement of the seated audience

After rapturous applause he came back out, leaving his female singers to perform a haunting duet of the traditional song ‘Come All Ye Fair And Tender Maidens’ with Bahamas side of stage providing intermittent guitar licks in the shadows. Like most of the show it had the crowd caught in raptured silence whilst it’s conclusion brought bountiful applause as the girls embraced. ‘We’ll see you on Portobello Road for the after party’ shouted a clearly delighted Bahamas before launching into one last number. It mattered little that he couldn’t remember the name of the last song but his take on Cass McCombs ‘County Line’ with its echoes of his homeland was a fitting way to sign off a truly special evening.