In a very hot Night and Day café in Manchester a cheery, delightful, new band (Slow Club) are warming up for Fionn Regan. But soon after, Regan took the stage and it was immediately apparent his audience was a loyal one, and not just a bunch of people swayed to a gig by a Mercury Prize nomination. Opening with “Hey Rabbit” to excited applause, there are clearly impressive things about Regan’s performance; the throwback sound of the harmonica, the pure and clear sound of him and his guitar and then not so impressive - a very enthused punter shouting, “YEAH” after everything he did.
Although Fionn is better known for his “singer-songwriter” numbers, he shines more this evening during the faster folkier numbers and whilst paying “Put a penny in the slot” he changes the lyrics to relate to Manchester’s own ‘Heaton Park’ met unsurprisingly with rapturous applause. His downfall however comes with his lack of conversation. It’s always a shame when artists don’t banter, and there was barely a word spoken between songs. The lack of personality revealed, was in part my struggle to relate to his performance and music. It’s not the kind of music that has immediate impact and so with no real conversational flow it’s hard to feel passionate about his performance. The songs are clearly well written, and the musicianship accomplished – but that’s not really the question at hand. Transferring songs from CD to live performance is crucial and most of the songs seem to drift by without being truly distinctive. A highlight however was his encore, starting with “House Detective” and finishing with his most widely known song, “Be good or Be Gone” demonstrated how the rest of the show should have been; purposely setting up the room with barely any lights and no bar chat, Fionn strummed and sang along delicately, and clearly reaching everyone in the room as moments later he was joined by the crowd singing every word along with him. Regan has lots of time to work out the kinks in his live shows, but it’s important that he does, because when you leave a venue remembering more about the support act than the headliner, something hasn’t gone quite right.
5/10
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