Ben Ottewell & Gracie Beverley
The Regal, Tenbury Wells, 23rd May 2025
“There are no facts, only interpretations,” said a German philosopher with an impossibly large moustache before he hugged a horse in Italy. Two and a half weeks before my visit to Tenbury, I received an email from The Regal in which I was told that the gig “will now take place in our Regal Studio rather than the main auditorium. This move allows for a more intimate and atmospheric setting, which we know will make this event even more memorable.” Who knew that art administrators based in rural Worcestershire had the ‘creative talents’ of spin doctors?
As she settles into her chair behind her keyboard, Gracie Beverley tells the audience that she feels “like I’m in the school assembly.” Her first song, ‘Best Advice’, is “about falling in love with my best friend.” It’s like Alison Goldfrapp singing the Alex Turner-penned Submarine soundtrack. On ‘Blood and Water’, Gracie moves up almost the entire length of the piano à la Rachmaninov or Chopin.
The next three songs are covers: ‘Strange’ by Celeste, ‘A Song For You’ by Donny Hathaway (“an old jazz number”), and ‘Norman F***ing Rockwell’ (“a diss track”). Introducing ‘The Big Bang’, Gracie says, “When you fall in love it feels like your life has started,” which is as beautiful as her actual lyrics. ‘Make Up For Lost Time’ is another song about her husband – “I don’t even know what I’d do without you.” On the slightly more up-tempo set closer ‘This Too Shall Pass’, she sings: “This garden is my sanctuary / I’ve watched these flowers grow”. If you want to hear heartfelt jazz with more than a twist of pop, make sure to see Gracie when she headlines at The Regal on 22nd August.
No doubt that most of the ‘kids’ in the assembly hall came to see Ben Ottewell perform songs from his Gomez heyday. However, he dives straight into his own gorgeous blues song called ‘Rattle Bag’, which sounds as if he’s playing three guitars at once. When introducing ‘78 Stone Wobble’ from the first Gomez record released “400 years ago,” someone leaves the venue and Ben wryly says, “He’s already had enough.” We are informed that next song ‘Rhythm and Blues Alibi’ was Gomez’s highest charting hit and was displaced at #17 by ‘Mambo No. 5’. “Beaten by the best,” Ben adds. This is followed by “the only waltz of the evening,” which convinced me that his voice is even better than it was 27 years ago.
More pop trivia! ‘How We Operate’ was used in a scene in Grey’s Anatomy in which someone performs a heart bypass operation. The muted chords and soaring voice prompt nodding at the front. ‘Shapes and Shadows’ is the title track from Ben’s first solo record released 14 years ago, and includes the fantastic lyric “Socrates in an old Ford Escort.” ‘What The Kids Are Doing Now’ is a much more recent track, and sounds to me like it could be on the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtrack. “The next one is a bit of a banger,” Ben says, and he’s not wrong. How many chords are in ‘Here Comes The Breeze’? I feel dizzy watching Ben’s left hand move up and down the fretboard. “Wow!” someone says behind me. They’re not wrong. ‘Blackbird’ is perhaps a little too long, but if you like Nick Drake-like arpeggios that much, you could listen to it all day.
The unmistakeable riff on Gomez belter ‘Free to Run’ causes a collective hum of appreciation. Solo song ‘The Watcher’ is a breezy, happy song reminding us that “happiness is hard to find sometimes.” Ben asks for more reverb on his vocals for the next track, and I think to myself, “Is he going to do ‘Tijuana Lady’?” I am correct, and I am only slightly crying as I remember hearing it for the first time in 1998 aged 16 years old. The crowd bays for more afterwards, so Ben does ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’, and it’s so good, it sounds like he wrote it. He’ll be back at The Regal in September with James Walsh from Starsailor. Whether it’s in the main auditorium or a ‘more intimate setting’ depends on you buying a ticket. No pressure.
By: Neil Laurenson