Sons Of Town Hall become the Sons Of Selby Town Hall for one night only. All pictures: Paul Rhodes
LIKE a pair of salty stormcocks, the duo Sons Of Town Hall seem to like singing in a gale. Two years ago they sang in the snow in Robin Hood’s Bay. Last Friday, with Storm Claudia sheeting down outside, this well-travelled pair produced what must be one of the gigs of the year at this fine old venue where the sound is always immaculate.
Ben Parker and David Berkeley are frequent autumn visitors to these shores. Their act (it is far more than a set of 15 songs) combines wonderfully timed humour with thoughtful, varied songs that are part heartbreak and part brothel and tavern.
They talked and sang about their hardships on the sea and the land (a fair metaphor for any working musician in the 21st century), but time and time again they find their moment in the sun on stage.
Tall tales in Sons Of Town Hall’s concert at Selby Town Hall
While Sons Of Town Hall seem to operate largely under the commercial radar, they find their audience by word of mouth (and the behind-the-scenes efforts by promoters such as Hurricane Promotions’ James Duffy).
Parker and Berkeley are more business-savvy than they let on, of course, and they have crowd-funded a very popular podcast and produced an album made to the highest production standards.
Audiences love them: this pair are twinkle-toed heartbreakers. The boots and hats may be old, but the concept still feels fresh as a night breeze.
Sons Of Town Hall delivering “new jokes (finally!) and, even better, fresh songs, newer even than those on their latest record”
This concert had something for everyone. For the uninitiated, there was the camaraderie, the bromance, the vaudevillian humour and the tall tales and heart-stopping songs.
For those who have seen them before in different times, under different skies, there were new jokes (finally!) and, even better, fresh songs, newer even than those on their latest record (Of Ghosts And Gods, out this month, finally!).
These newer tunes seem to be pulling in a more commercial direction, Bossman being the pick (and better than the Gordon Lightfoot song of the same name).
“There was the camaraderie, the bromance, the vaudevillian humour and the tall tales and heart-stopping songs,” says reviewer Paul Rhodes of Sons Of Town Hall’s performance
Parker and Berkeley have jostled with the setlist since they played in Ripon in May. Antarctica, their “hit” from the 1910s, was present and timeless, and older tunes such as Poseidon made welcome returns.
While their close-knit harmonies are their trademark, their musicianship is also of the highest order. How To Build A Boat was a good example. With their interlocking, separate vocal lines and clever use of their guitar necks and bodies to mimic the build, they inject magic. They also work themselves into a lather, never better than on the old gospel number I Saw The Light
We ended as is their custom, without microphones and up close on Cobbler’s Hill, their voices reaching upwards into the storm.
Review by Paul Rhodes
