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David Ford @ The Borderline, London
Date: 28th August 2006
Support: Angus and Julia
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Having toured the USA earlier this year and recently completed a tour of Australia, David Ford returned to the UK this week for a one-off gig at London's Borderline before jetting back off stateside for another tour that will include support slots for Aimee Mann.
Thanks to formerly fronting the angst-ridden indie punk band Easyworld and this consistent touring activity as a solo artist, Ford has begun to build himself a large following of new fans and old. Both sets are more than happy to appreciate such an enormous talent, even if Easyworld fans are trading punk rock for a more thoughtful, serene brand of music. As a result, tickets for this London gig sold out so quickly that it had to be upgraded to a larger venue, where the extra tickets sold out in a flash.
And it's hardly surprising, for David Ford has a talent that few others can match.
After Australian support trio Angus and Julia had excelled at warming up the crowd with their folk-tinged acoustic guitars a la Jack Johnson over Corinne Bailey Rae vocals, Ford took to the stage to adulating cheers. Still wearing his trademark hat, the capacity Borderline crowd was treated to renditions of 'I Don't Care What You Call Me' and 'Cheer Up (You Miserable Fuck)' early in the set list, with Ford as always giving everything to his performance. But it's not only his musical talent that becomes apparent, Ford is able to chat with the crowd and to tell them stories that are not in-jokes with band-mates as with so many other artists, but are genuine explanations of the reasons and emotions behind his songs. Even when his box of delights, the foot-pedal unit that generates all the different sound effects, decided that it would join the staff of Southwest Trains on strike, Ford was able to banter with the crowd, to poke fun at himself and to quickly come up with an alternative guitar sound for the following song.
Fortunately the box of delights came back to work in time for Ford's most famous record to date, 'State Of The Union' in which Ford records a guitar riff and lets the box of delights continuously play it back, then he'll record another riff over the top, then a backing vocal, piano part, harmony, beat (from a battered object resembling a brief case), another beat from the body of his guitar, whilst all the time growling some lyrics over the top. And so it goes on, an entire song crafted by one lone man, and on this occasion right in front of several hundred mesmorised pairs of eyes.
Further treats included a short rendition of Free's 'All Right Now', a happy song about getting drunk and proof that musicians are human - Ford hitting a bad piano chord during a song that had never been played anywhere in the world before. Ford came back on stage for a double encore, asking what song the crowd would like to hear, then choosing to ignore demands and play an unrehearsed song that his band members could "join me on stage if you dare". A misaligned guitar string on Ford's guitar caused a few problems, with Ford immediately pointing a joking finger at a backing singer and making it plain to see that, contrary to popular belief, he is not always miserable.
With such composure, vigour, and panache, Ford is a natural performer with a supernatural talent. Do not miss his return to the UK.
For more information you can visit: http://www.davidford.mu
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