Jack Grace/Beth Johnstone

Chaplin’s, Boscombe

When Jack Grace performs at the Chaplin’s Bar it is always an idea to get down early to assure yourself of a comfortable seat before the crowds arrive.

Tonight before it is Jack’s turn to perform we have the delightful vocal tones of Beth Johnstone to entertain us. A slightly shy Beth treat’s the audience to a nice mixture of covers along with a few of her own compositions. There are delightful reworkings of songs “I See Love” by Passenger and “All I Want” from Kodaline with a wonderful respectful silence from the audience as they listen intently. Beth has a wonderfully natural Soulful voice that can be delivered in both a soft and also a powerful way, coupled with just a simple acoustic guitar and a mouth organ. The songs are delivered with warm heartfelt feelings, especially the song “I Can Steal Back Mine” which was inspired on the way home from work after over-hearing a man’s conversation on a bus. Beth completes her fine set with a very welcome round of applause from the appreciative crowd.

Beth Johnstone 1

Tonight the usually well organised Jack Grace seems to be a little distracted as there are a few hiccups with the initial start to the show. This does not really distract the audience, in fact it makes things a little more interesting. We are told to make ourselves comfortable as this was to be a long set with Jack promising to dip into his entire back catalogue, along with a few new songs. To those uneducated in the world of local music Jack’s voice is something really special. He has a natural talent, delivering pitch perfect vocals on virtually anything he sings. Tonight is no different as he thoroughly entertains each and every person in attendance. The original material sounds great in this stripped down acoustic format with songs like “Days Like These”, “As I Lie” and “Remember Me” making me grin from ear to ear. The new songs come in the form of “Untitled” and “The Unknown”, with the latter being dedicated to his band member Alex Cope who has moved away to Southampton. The new songs show the continued progress with his ongoing experimentation with his sound.

Jack Grace 1–2

As usual with these gigs you always get a heckler and typically someone shouts out for the Oasis Classic “Wonderwall”-reluctantly it got added to the set list in a wonderful reworked way with the heckler saying afterwards that it was better than the Oasis version. The highlight of the evening is a beautiful collaboration between Beth Johnstone and Jack who together perform the Ryan Adams number “Oh My Sweet Carolina”, with their voices combining in a beautiful unison. The set came to an end after over 90 minutes with the hard hitting “406” and the epic “Self Destruction”. The audience show their full appreciation by demanding an encore. Eager to please Jack returns with a cover of “Grinnin’ In Your Face” by Son House which seemingly further quenches the audiences musical appetite. These sort of intimate shows are absolutely amazing and you get the feeling you are sitting in your own lounge watching the beautiful live music that Chaplin’s puts on each night. We have so many talented artists that do this so well and Jack Grace is certainly one of the best.

Set List
Best Of Things Take Time
Misguided
Days Like These
Find A Way Back Home
As I Lie
Untitled
The Unknown
Home (Sick)
Remember Me
Weeks, Months, Years
Better This Way
Wonderwall (Oasis)
Boat On A Show
Oh My Sweet Carolina (With Beth Johnstone)
Ever Changing Path
The Art Of Taking The Lot
406
Self Destruction
Grinnin’ In Your Face (Son House )