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However, though I remain irrepressibly optimistic, my own music career has stooped to making soundtracks for iPhone apps. Simon Aldred, on the other hand, has formed Cherry Ghost. Cobbled together from the remnants of various failed Manchester bands, Cherry Ghost’s first album Thirst For Romance went straight into the charts at number 7, and was hailed by James Dean Bradfield as the best album of 2007. Follow-up Beneath This Burning Shoreline (2010) recently came out to a very positive critical response, but has struggled to match its predecessor in terms of sales and popularity.
Resplendent though the newly-spruced Fibbers looks nowadays, Cherry Ghost’s sudden rise and fall through mainstream popularity sets a slightly empty, flat tone for the evening. This is a band having to adjust to the disappointment of shrinking venues and attendances. The oddly uneasy atmosphere is worsened if anything by Welsh support act Tim and Sam. They shamble through various anonymous instrumental tracks, dressed in matching blue shirts like Holby City extras. There’s a cover of Gorillaz’ ‘Dare’, which is so arbitrary and uninspiring it hurts a lil’ bit, and far too many opportunities for trips to the bar/toilet, even for a support act.
And so, understated and mildly awkward, Cherry Ghost eventually take the stage. Opener ‘Throw Me To The Dogs’ is gentle and magically warm; the perfect showcase for Aldred’s jagged, heartfelt crooning. It is his voice that strikes you first with Cherry Ghost, and every lyric is delivered with a genuinely touching caress. Three selections from the new album follow, including the gorgeous throb of ‘A Month Of Mornings’, the cold intrigue of ‘We Sleep On Stones’, and the single ‘Kissing Strangers’, buzzing with bright energy and charm.
The problem with Cherry Ghost in this setting is the delicate, sharply emotive nature of the songs is far too vulnerable to audience disinterest. As the set wears on, the poignancies of ‘Diamond In The Grind’ and ‘Mathematics’ are lost amid restless chatter from a crowd decreasing in patience as fast as it decreases in sobriety. Even before the pre-encore stage vacation there are raucous hollerings of ‘People Help The People’, the band’s only real hit. With several attendees anxious to move on with their Saturday night out, an enjoyable cover of CeCe Peniston’s ‘Finally’ concludes an evening that melted away faster than it should have.
I spent ten minutes or so wagging chins with the drummer’s father, whom I stumbled across. We agreed that there is limitless appeal in a band like Cherry Ghost if you’ve been brought up in a poor part of Lancashire, but there’s a very homely feel to the songs, almost as though they’re tugging on one specific heartstring. As a result, it’s difficult to see Simon Aldred’s popularity ever reaching previous heights, and new fans will certainly be close to impossible to draw. That said, as a fan myself, I could not help but delight at a night of evocative, beautiful and moving entertainment from a band very close to my heart.
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