On he Rocks, Bouremouth
Tonight at On The Rocks in Bournemouth the pace slows down from the high energy rock nights of the past few weeks, tonight is all about the singer and song, headliner Mikey Ball from New Milton is a song writer with a great pedigree who has been performing solo for over 7 years, with plenty of great festival appearances under his belt along with national radio airplay on Radio 2, tonight is a rare chance to see Mikey in a great intimate seaside setting.
I unfortunately missed seeing “Tanners Lane” which was certainly disappointing, when talking to some the crowd, they were giving some great feedback. saying they played extremely well, and the vast majority of the audience enjoyed the songs that they played and were looking forward to seeing them in another local gig soon. Nick Tathan was the next act of the night. Nick is a solo artist who is sometimes joined by other musicians. He is a brilliant singer/ song writer which showed in tonight’s performance when he sang many of his original songs. Including “Strong Hearted”, which shows the struggle and memories of being in love, including the good feelings, which Nick defiantly portrayed to the audience who smiled whilst he sang. Nick started with his own version of “I believe I can fly”. After a few giggles from the crowd from the song choice, they all started to sing along and sway to nicks voice. With such a talents and being his young age, he is defiantly one to listen out for on the radio in the next few years. Charlie Hole continues along a similar theme, an acoustic solo singer songwriter. He too played a handful of his own original songs, Such as “Stones On A Sandy Beach” which was the first song he played that night. He then followed on to play “Waking Up To A Setting Sun”, for a lad still in his youth, his talents are beyond him. Not a single note could be criticised from his performance. He was able to engage with the crowd well, who were memorised by the talented musician on stage.
Mikey Ball was Headline act of the night, and as soon as he spoke into that mic, the crowd silenced. First time that night, that not a single word was spoken when a performer was onstage. Starting with a cover of Billy Bragg’s “A New England” Mikey chose well as people began to sing along and the mood was lifted across the audience. He then began to sing one of his original songs “Somewhere New”, one of many that is. Five of his nine song set list tonight were originals. Some even only recently finished, such as “I’ll Be Here” Which is his latest addition to his songbook. At the end of each song, a slightly abrupt “MIKEY BALL” chant came from corners of the room, to make Mikey Continue playing! He did continue on, I think he was having too much fun to leave! A personal favourite of his “Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac got the crowd singing along once again with him. The crowd also sang along to a few of Mikeys original songs! This is such an achievement for a local solo musician. The songs ticked on, and people were starting to relax to the music being played, then Mikey Insisted on people singing “La la laa” to accompany him during “Still Young” , with a sigh everyone joined in and after a while, I could tell everyone was enjoying it. He then played “Iris” a great song orginally by the Goo Goo Dolls, a crowd favourite. Mikey’s version of this song had everyone singing along. A few even got up to dance. A good sing song before the finale.
Mr Ball has a way of turning every song into his own, which makes his performances really interesting. Furthermore, his songs can be related to everyday life, which makes every song more meaningful and heartfelt to the people listening. Before Mikey could even ask if anyone had any requests people were shouting out “Summer of 69!”, so I guess he had no choice. A friend of Mikey’s from Bournemouth band “States of Matter” joined him on stage to harmonise. It was a great end to the night with everyone laughing and having fun. A Mikeys performance tonight was exceptional. It was great to see him back in Bournemouth! Letís just hope we see a lot more of these talented acts from the night at On the Rocks in Bournemouth.
Videos
Mikey Ball Set List
A New England (Billy Bragg)
Somewhere New
On Our Way
Iíll Be Here
All That I Am
Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac)
Still Young
Iris (Goo Goo Dolls)
Summer of 69 (Bryan Adams) with States of matter
Links
http://www.facebook.com/mikeyballsoloband
http://www.facebook.com/charlieholeUK
http://www.facebook.com/nick.tatham
http://www.facebook.com/WeareTannersLane
Review and Videos By Dee Hanley.
