Citizen 1000

Friday 23 February 2007 saw the return of acoustic night Ditch The TV hosted by Coventry band Beneva. Now at The Albany pub in Earlsdon, the room upstairs was packed tight with an eager audience waiting to see and hear Rob Halligan, Lament and, of course, Beneva. This monthly session promised to feature some top local and national artistes and the opening night included some of Coventry’s finest musical talent.

Kicking the evening off was singer/songwriter Rob Halligan. He began with the title track of his last album Dancing With Seagulls which was written about the times he’d danced among the seagulls on Worthing beach when he was a child. Rob proved he’d got such a powerful voice and playing technique as he went from hammering out songs such as the aforementioned, to the intricate finger picking of Holding On, to the beautiful ballad Birds Are Still Singing. He even put his own stamp on a couple of cover versions, including Kate Bush’s Babooshka! As Rob commented, he definitely had the hair to perform that song! Rob Halligan was the perfect start to the evening. As always he didn’t disappoint and left the audience feeling upbeat and cheery and ready for more!

After a short break it was time for the evening’s hosts Beneva. Steve Skidmore of local duo Bukechi, who occasionally plays bass with them, joined Nathan Bennett and Malc Evans for the set (incidentally Bukechi are due to play at Ditch The TV in May). The band started with Making More Time For You from their excellent and highly addictive album I’ll Say Just What I Mean. One song that is always a “live” favourite is Stalker. It’s always a game to see how many songs Malc can fit into it! On this occasion, thanks to suggestions from the audience, he managed lines from Tainted Love, Flowers In The Rain and even Agadoo. They also played a couple of new songs, including the “Gillian McKeith favourite” Fish, Chips and Chocolate! Even though there were only three of them on stage, they had such a full sound – with Nathan on keyboard and snare drum, Malc on guitar and Steve on bass. You couldn’t help but smile when you heard them! Especially when singing lyrics such as “Off-loaded JPEGs" and "Found some MPEGS" from We Work To Live!

The last band on the bill was Lament. A Latin style band with jazz and acoustic influences all rolled into one. Led by vocalist Kath Kimber they performed several songs from their new album This Ain’t Rio. All music you could dance to and make you feel good! A space was cleared at the front of the room for people to dance, but either people were getting tired after a long day at work or no-one was brave enough to “shake their thang” in front of everyone! I had seen Beneva and Rob Halligan many times before, but this was the first time I had seen Lament and I was really impressed by their set. One song that stood out was their version of Cry Me A River – a mix of both Justin Timberlake’s version and Julie London’s.

All of the bands on the bill have a strong following and fan base, which was evident in the number of people who decided to ditch their televisions for an evening! I predict nothing but good things for every band I saw on Friday and that DTTV will be a hit for Beneva. With many more excellent bands lined up over the forthcoming months, everyone should pencil in their diaries that the last Friday of every month is Ditch The TV night!

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Hannah is part of BBC Coventry & Warwickshire's Citizen 1000 project, for more information and to find out how to apply, click on the link below: