Jon Gomm
Special Guests: Kev Minney
Venue: Komedia, Brighton
Date: 15th November 2021.
Tour Tickets
Review By: Ben Harris-Hayes
I would say that it’s a testament to any musician’s appeal to have a diverse crowd in attendance at their show.
Amongst the gathered revellers on a mild evening in Brighton are people kitted out in death metal band shirts, Prog-rock shirts and other random attire.
The fans and the curious are gathered to watch what we’ve all come to accept is a ‘recovery gig’.
The COVID hit live music roadblock has not been a friend to many artists, many of whom who rely on not only the financial support of regular touring but also the ability to link with a sympathetic crowd who enjoy the artists to assist with dealing with their own anxieties and issues…so, it is marvellous to once more be at another live gig.
I arrive at the Komedia in my former stamping ground of Brighton and was shown to my table just as the opening act Kev Minney and his violin cohort, Ben, were taking the stage.
Spinning a pleasant selection of acoustic tunes, Kev is promoting some songs that he is about to record in Brighton in the coming weeks.
Having not heard his material before, I cannot say whether he was playing stripped-down versions of his songs or if the simple acoustic/violin approach is what his recordings are like, but regardless, there are some nice moments within the pieces he delivers.
He brings out an old song (by his own admission) entitled ‘Dark Stars’, which is a very nice piece and certainly what caught my ear as a stand-out from his set.
But tonight’s show is about the headliner and percussive-acoustic showman, Jon Gomm.
This rescheduled show from January is clearly welcome to Jon, who recounts a few times across the evening how much he’s missed playing live and being in front of an audience.
Slinking onstage and adjusting his gear, Jon opens with some lovely ambience on his acoustic; tinged with ethereal FX before launching into the wonderful ‘Cocoon’, taken from his latest album, The Faintest Idea.
I really like this song for a number of reasons, all of them expertly explained by Jon himself as to what the song means to him. The soaring chorus and clever structure open the show brilliantly, making this scribe grin like a loon!
Bring out his ‘emergency disco song’ next in the form of the glorious cover of the Rufus & Chaka Khan classic, ‘Ain’t Nobody’, makes everyone smile and sing along.
Whipping out his 9 minute ‘prog’ track, ‘Everything’ before rolling into his tale of young love with ‘Gloria’ show Jon’s evolution as a song writer.
The haunting description of why he wrote ‘The Ghost Inside You’ comes next, and we’re treated to an emotional outpouring from the guitarist as you can literally see the pain on his face as he deals cathartically with this personal haunting onstage.
With a smile and a wave, Jon decides to bring a little lift in everyone’s spirits with a cover of ‘A Little Respect’ by 80’s synth-pop legends, Erasure. Even if Jon seemingly makes a mistake midway through the song and stops for a moment, the audience eases him back into it with a lovely moment of supporting his playing by singing the lyrics. It was so nice to have everyone quietly singing along, and we all caught Jon smiling as this went on.
One thing you do notice is that Jon is seemingly very relaxed onstage, finding himself at home there, which comes across in his jokes and onstage banter…even if I’ve heard a few of the jokes before!
‘Weather Machine’ precedes the one-two hit of my two favourite tracks by this talented songwriter.
The magical ‘Deep Sea Fishes’ is just a heck of a song, and I genuinely do not think I will ever be bored of listening to it.
The live recording of this song by the Samsara Collective that you can find on Jon’s YouTube channel is just something else, and I’m not afraid to say I was once more moved by hearing this song; even more so because of the live experience.
Now, I may have gone into a bit of a trance before/after this song, but I believe he played ’Dream Factories’ and possibly ‘Telepathy’ before ending his set…but my apologies for not noting this down correctly, but I was just enjoying the show and loving hearing my favourite song in the live environment.
Lapping up the applause at the end of the set, he dons his guitar once more and delivered his pièce de resistance; the showstopping, ‘Passionflower’. Hearing this song live and in person is just something else.
With it’s 18 million views on YouTube now, this track clearly brought Jon to a wider audience, and he is more than aware of how important this song is to his career and to the audience that have grown up with this incredible guitar pyrotechnic performance.
Marking the 10-year anniversary of the track in excellent style is the release of the limited edition tee-shirt, which yours truly snapped up during the pre-order phase; not only to support the man himself but show my support for his work and how it’s influenced my own development on the guitar.
The set finally ends with an (literally) unplugged version of ‘Song For A Rainy Day’, which Jon explains was written by a close friend, in which he disconnects everything and gets down offstage to be in the crowd to sing this song.
As suddenly as it started, it’s all over…we’re all standing and clapping this mercurial talent before making our way to the bar area to await our musical hero, who kindly signs autographs, answers questions and even open-eyed agrees to send me the audio stems for one of his tracks, so I can do a remix on it.
I thank him sincerely, he smiles for the obligatory photo with me…and with a grin and fist-bump with the man, I’m skipping off into the night air to catch my train home.
What a brilliant night for live music.
