![[Ian McNabb Plays Liverpool's Life Cafe]](livpool1.jpg)
The closing party for the Liverpool In The City festival took place at the Life Café on Bold Street. With 2 floors to choose from, the centre of attention seemed to be in the Voodoo lounge situated down beneath street level.
The voodoo lounge is an excellent and very intimate setting for any bands to play. Although it is small and compact, its decor and appearance is pristine and comfortable with ambient lighting and plush velvet drapes as you walk through the narrow underground corridor that links the spiralling stairs to the actual lounge.
Although the price of drinks hurt the pocket and seemed to be more expensive in the Voodoo lounge as opposed to the upper Life Café, it still did not deter me from visiting the bar fairly frequently in anticipation of Ian's performance. The band who played before Ian were a sort of poor mans Rage Against The Machine but with lyrical interest swaying towards the apparently 'popular' pastime of skateboarding. The band made a superb entrance by running through the crowd wearing white radiation suits while wailing sirens deafened the voodoo crowd. I must say that I thought this band were decent enough, more appealing because of the crazy dancing antics of the bass player. Their opening track was great, a song I would definitely buy should it go on public release.
Travelling back and forth to the bar meant that the time passed quicker while 'Plan B' were playing their set, soon it would be time for Ian.
After only a short interval Ian casually walked on stage accompanied by Roy Corkhill who was to play bass for Ian.
The set up was sparse, a few acoustic guitars, an electric guitar, the bass guitar and pedal boards. Obviously, there was no shortage of amps around the stage.
The first track came steaming into the voodoo lounge like a runaway train. I welcomed the "Hollow Horse" and thought it was a great choice as an opener. Vocals sounding exactly like the original showed that McNabb could recreate the Icicle Works sound perfectly, after all, he is Mr. Icicle. Even though the perfectly timed drummings of Chris (drummer for Robbie Williams) Sharrock could not be heard, Ian's flawless pickings of the "Hollow Horse" riff left me spellbound and this was undoubtedly the best version I had ever heard. Being a guitarist myself I appreciate the "Hollow Horse" riff as being something I would not like to play live, although I have heard Ian play this song many times on solo tours, nothing ever sounded as good as this.
"Liverpool Girl" was met with great affection by the voodoo crowd. The humorous and accurate descriptions rang true with the scouse crowd. Murmurs of "yeah" could be heard when Ian sang the line "...she's always got an answer for, the immature dweller of the chip shop door" thus confirming that Ian's lyrics are accurate and something people can relate to.
Despite the heat in this small venue Ian's harmonica riff for "Liverpool Girl" delivered yet another impressive punch right into the middle of the voodoo lounge as the sympathetic notes of the riff make you realise that this light-hearted song does have a touch of irony buried into it, a sentiment that is echoed line "...her old man says she's in the clouds he's very proud" When Ian sung this line on Tuesday its full meaning was portrayed in the manner he sung the words, something only maybe people from Liverpool would understand.
Of course, the night could never have been the same without the classic "Love Is A Wonderful Colour." Nothing to say about this song really, Ian could have played this track on a de-tuned guitar and it would still sound outstanding. A truly classic song lifted straight out of the 1983 achieves and spiced up with some superb guitar pedal effects.
"Little Princess" was delivered to us in a wave of effects that were accurate to the original track. Made complete by the playing together, Roy and Ian seemed to really get into the full swing of it with their closing number. Although "Little Princess" was played for approximately 5 minutes, the time seemed to pass too quickly as the rhythmic sounds of Ian's guitar held you in a trance unable to divert your attention from "Little Princess". If you think the album version is hypnotic, wait until you see it live. Lost in the music Ian roamed around the stage and made playing the guitar look as easy as blinking your eyes. Looking at his usual fixed point while playing, Ian seemed totally relaxed with the event and his playing was smooth and precise.
Although I lost all concept of time while watching Ian play, I estimate he remained on stage for about 35 minutes, also, I have not reviewed all the songs here because I want to speak about another important happening of the night.
After the gig, Roy informs me that Ian is sitting over the other side of the voodoo lounge. Now, knowing the effect of the many bottles of Budweiser, I should not have approached Ian, but, this was a chance to meet my favourite musician and songwriter. I walked up to Ian and found him to be a most pleasant and relaxed guy. He did not seem put off by my slightly drunken demeanour but instead listened carefully to me which is something I was very impressed with. My ramblings to him probably made no sense at all, I chose to inform him that although it sounded corny, this was indeed a great honour to meet him. I asked him when he would be touring next and he said he would prefer to work on and release his new album first. Disappointed, because I am a lover of live music, I then continued with more drunken ramblings that included "what are the chords for 'May You Always'".
Looking back on the meeting now, I wish I had been sober, unfortunately, I have tried to meet Ian on many occasions and failed, I thought Tuesday night would be no exception and so continued to enjoy the night with everybody else.
If Ian is indeed reading this, I am sure you remember who I am, the guy wearing the Nike cap.
Overall, he was a nice guy, I know its a cliché, but it is also a good description. After a minute or two I decided it would be too intrusive to just stand there and take up the guys time and so I left him with this comment. "Forget Neil Young and John Lennon, your the top man, keep up the good work mate". Okay, it did amuse him, it amuses me now to think of it. But, after all, I do class Ian McNabb as the greatest songwriter/vocalist and one hell of a good guitar player.
As a way of expanding Carl Seiler's excellent work, I am currently producing a flash animation that will be included on a specially designed page on my web site. This page will feature no details or news about Ian because we already have that from Carl, and lets be honest, it couldn't be done better. Instead, it will take Ian McNabbs internet standings into the new world of Macromedia Flash animations. Simply and plainly, eye candy for current and future McNabb fans. If you have any ideas for the animation or any captions that could describe Ians music, the production will not be completed before the end of September so please feel free to E-Mail me on... graham.hignett@cableinet.co.uk.
Ian, it would be cool to hear from you, man!
Graham Hignett
Received 23 September 1999. Posted 1 October. Minor changes 2 October.
This review Copyright © 1999, Graham Hignett. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with permission. The right of Graham Hignett to be identified
as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.