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Breathing Space

The Studio, Hartlepool

21 November 2009

I somehow neglected to do a review on Saturday night and I can't do them properly after time has passed so I'll just do some brief (who said "Good"???) comments...

It's the first time I have heard the new songs and they all made a favourable impression. The set was a balanced mix of all three albums and didn't omit any of my favourites.

The crowd seemed twice as large as last year at The Studio, still not a packed house but a step in the right direction.

The sound system in The Studio is excellent, much better than most small venues, but I found the drums to be annoyingly balanced — I think Barry hits them too hard!

Paul was the star of the night, I think. His playing is outstanding and he seemed to be really enjoying the gig too.

The new guitar player sounds too much like Bryan Josh. Hmm, I'm not sure if that's a criticism or not! Bryan has a very distinctive sound (which I love, obviously) and it fits into the band seamlessly... but I would prefer Breathing Space to keep a distinct sound of their own. That's probably just me though.

What else....? Huh, see what happens when I don't write a review straight away? It comes out sounding all negative. Honestly, I loved every minute of the gig, I'm still humming the songs three days later, and when I came out I was immediately making plans for seeing them in York. (Actually, that's not going to happen, much as I wish it could. But I haven't lost any admiration for the band and I'll catch them again whenever I can.)