Gig Reviews
Christmas Concert At The Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury
Saturday 19th December 2009
As the snow fell and the UK became one big white blanket, memories came flooding back from April 2008. Back then, just like now, it decided to snow just as we were preparing to go to a Ben Mills gig! Ok, so this time it was December, we were in the run up to Christmas and it was a Christmas Concert that we were heading off to, so in that respect the snow probably fitted the occasion, but damn was it cold! And icy! Very icy! I didn't so much walk across the Gulbenkian car park as ... *ahem* ... glide, only more in the vein of Todd Carty than Ray Quinn!
After a rather large cup of hot chocolate in the Cafe Bar to warm me up, we took our seats in the theatre. For those who have never been there, it takes a little over 300 people with banked seating, giving an excellent view of the "half-hexagon" stage regardless of where you're sat.
Opening the show for Ben was a young local lad by the name of Luke Jackson. At just 15, he is fast making his mark as a very talented singer and songwriter. Stood alone with just his acoustic guitar to accompany himself, you could be forgiven for thinking that Luke would be swamped by his surroundings. With such a powerful voice way beyond his years and a stage presence to match, however, he held his audience captive throughout his 4 song set.
As Luke Jackson left the stage to a huge round of applause, the lights dimmed and the festive sound of sleigh bells filled the air. Under cover of darkness the guys took to the stage, but nothing could disguise Ben's flowing locks and he was spotted by an eager audience who cheered with delight as he made his way to the front. The lights came on to reveal the band who instantly went into their opening song of the night, "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". Part way through Ben wished everybody a Merry Christmas and thanked us all for coming despite the snow, obviously aware that the treacherous conditions had unfortunately prevented some from getting there.
The set list comprised of a mix of covers, including a couple we'd not heard the band do before ("Sympathy For the Devil" by the Rolling Stones and Cat Stevens' "Wild World") and a selection of Ben's own songs, with a few Christmas classics thrown in for good measure. The first half of the show continued like this:
- Downtown Train (Tom Waits)
- Nothing But The Truth (Ben Mills)
- Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones)
- Wild World (Cat Stevens)
- Fade Away (Ben Mills)
- Here I Go Again (Whitesnake)
- Emily (Ben Mills)
The highlight for me here was probably "Fade Away" as it was the first time Ben had performed it live. All we knew about it before then was from the snippet featured in his MySpace music player and it was great to finally hear it in full. This particular song, Ben went on to explain, was, according to his record label at the time, "it" and "the way forward". There was just one tiny issue - all the lyrics had to be changed first!!
To end the first half, the band were joined on stage by Luke Jackson who took over from Ben on lead vocals for a fantastic rendition of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy". We definitely haven't seen the last of this lad!
After a short break, the band returned and opened the second half of the show with a song which we don't get to hear live so much nowadays - the title track from Ben's debut album, "Picture Of You". I adore this song and, as it was written soley by Ben, it was one of the first indicators as to his potential as a songwriter.
The remainder of the set was as follows:
- Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix)
- She's Not There (The Zombies)
- Freedom (Ben Mills)
- Stay With Me Tonight (Ben Mills)
- Hot Legs (Rod Stewart)
- Maggie May (Rod Stewart)
- Bring It On Home To Me (Sam Cooke)
- Superstition (Stevie Wonder)
- Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry)
- I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing (Aerosmith)
"I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" was supposedly the last song of the night and Ben left the stage after. I don't think the audience were fooled though as the rest of the band stayed put and continued playing! Cue the "Christmassy Encore"!
Ben reappeared, picked up his guitar and then said he needed some help. We were to imagine that we were all on a sinking boat and that the women and children were really important - because without the women and children they wouldn't be able do the chorus as Ben reckons he can't get that high!! It was John Lennon's "Merry Christmas (War Is Over)" and the audience did Ben proud, managing to hit the high notes when required!
The band were then joined on stage for "Rockin' Robin" by a rather skinny Santa who appeared to have stolen Tony Rico's very special and rather gorgeous looking Ska Saxophone!
Given the evening's set list and the fact that it was a seated theatre we were in so not really a venue where the dancing legs could come out, I was, at this point, a pent up ball of dancing frustration bursting to get out! It's understandable then, that the last song of the night had me bobbing about in my seat and singing along like there was no tomorrow! With a snow machine going full pelt and the audience vocally in full swing, the band played Slade's "Merry Christmas Everybody" to finish off one hell of a damned good show.
The band, as always, were awesome - Dudley Ross (lead guitar), David Gwilliam (lead guitar), Tony Rico (sax), Tom Farmer (keyboards), Roger Inniss (bass guitar) and Jason McCluskey (drums), and Ben was, well, his usual incredible self! Thanks guys for such an amazing gig. Here's to many more in 2010.
Report & Photographs by Saara Ord - Webmaster / Administrator
(More photographs can be found in the Gallery)
Were you there? Come and tell us what you thought about it.