We were gifted tickets to tonight’s gig being held in Sage Two – the more intimate stage within the realms of the Sage. The gig in question is Bill Ryder Jones, formerly of The Coral who with the band had success in the noughties, before his departure from the band in 2008.
Bill was the lead guitarist and
co-songwriter rising to fame at such a young age, his talents seemed diluted
within a band who at the time dominated the indie scene.
It’s been a long road for the
man hailing from West Kirby, Merseyside. With well documented mental health
issues and addictions which Ryder Jones has straightforwardly talked about. The
expectant audience of thirty-somethings applauds as their man takes to a darkly
lit stage, brandishing a fender guitar, closely followed by four other band
members.
Ryder – Jones emerges into the
spotlight, acknowledges by simply saying “hi, I’m Bill”.
The stage comes alive as he begins to play the opening chords of a track from his latest album Yawn. It’s a hard one to categorise in its style, it’s like a distorted guitar dreamscape with secret poetry that only has clarity after the fourth listen. To see live ‘Yawn’ beams a purer form, with elements of Mogwai and the lyrical honesty of Adrian Moffat.
Bill’s voice, low like a modern
day crooner, his lyrics are laden with blunt honesty. His chords are light,
melodic. All combined they take up residence within your ears. There is an
edginess to Ryder Jones and as the evening goes he grows. It might have been
helped by a half bottle of tequila at hand though, it didn’t affect his
musicianship. It may have helped him
face a crowd that I believe he would rather be standing amongst. He explains
quite candidly how he has been in lockdown in a studio leading up to this tour,
this being only his third date back on the road.
This is a concert of two halves
– one point he asks his band politely to
leave the stage, noting they will be back. Bill is stripped of all that
surrounds him, leaving himself totally vulnerability, with guitar in one hand
tequila in the other he beckons his beloved fans for requests, handling the
hecklers like a comedian. Ryder Jones
was so astute to the audience, even asking about train times at one point. The sharp wit was pretty exciting, there was
an element of danger and unknowing with the gig, which makes each live
performance completley different.
Towards the end, the band came back and we were all witness to a group
who genuinely loved playing with one another.
You could almost picture the band in a studio jamming.
Stand out tracks – ‘Don’t Worry,
I Love You’ which is beautifully written, the crowd go-er ‘Two Tickets To
Birkenhead’ and ‘Wild Swan’ – with Ryder Jones explaining that he was compelled
to write after hearing the passing of a friends mother.
A banter-ful tequila pause and a
Seinfeld moment, the track ‘Seabirds’ was powerfully performed. The emotions rode high, the sadness and
elation mixed with the giggles in between tracks.
What is so particular about Bill
Ryder Jones is the honestly, the night, the performance along with the physical
need to create and play music. Ryder
Jones wears his heart on his sleeve while playing and it was a pleasure to
watch.
His performance and stories of
why and how Yawn became, made me look again to his the album and listen more
intently. Bill Ryder Jones May be one of life’s trouble souls, he may have his
demons, but he handles it with a humorous wit and total honesty that is written
by his pen and plucked from his guitar.
Bill Ryder Jones will be touring
Yawn until the end of February.
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