Live review: Marc Vormawah @ 81 Renshaw 27/10/18

Live review: Marc Vormawah – Return of the Marc

Date: Saturday 27th October 2018

Venue: 81 Renshaw

Reviewer: Stuart Todd, Liverpool Acoustic

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Liverpool veteran artist Marc Vormawah played a sold out show to a packed house at 81 Renshaw. This special event was standing room only and has generated great anticipation and excitement.

Wearing a black cap and trademark glasses, Marc almost resembled a movie director and in a musical sense he was. For this gig he was joined on stage by producer Jon Lawton on electric guitar, Steve Pennlington on keyboards, Chris Jones on bass and Roy Turnham on drums. Marc and the group opened their set at 8.40pm with The Road To Yesterday, which is taken from his excellent short album Goodbye To Yesterday, released earlier this year.

The first half was a jazz tinged set with some tasteful ensemble playing, perhaps inspired by Burt Bacharach. His velvet voice at times recalled Labi Siffre. As well as being a fine vocalist, Marc’s guitar work was also impressive, as demonstrated on Lime Street Song. Political themes were addressed on such numbers as Statue Song, a sharp commentary on the rewriting of history.

Teaming up with singer-guitarist Ian Davies from Two Black Sheep on several numbers, Gwen Burgess filled in for Amy Chalmers on violin and did an admirable job. Other guests included Camilla Sky, who performed two of Marc’s songs. This was followed by singer-songwriter Vanessa Murray, who duetted with Marc on Give Me Back My Heart’and was one of the highlights of the evening.

The humorous anecdotes and stage banter kept the audience engaged in between numbers. This was best demonstrated on the hilarious Happy Anniversary. Before the interval Marc performed the only cover of the evening, a song by long-time friend John Jenkins, who was in the audience.

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For the second half, Marc decided to take a trip back to The Good Old Days by playing songs from his eighties band Personal Column. It was a high energy set that included their first single Ignorance Is Bliss’ followed by The Same Old Situation’ For the song Strictly Confidential, Marc was joined by original bassist Mike Hayes. Marc thanked Val Colvin (of We Shall Overcome) and Alan O’Hare (of Only Child) for their support, before launching into The Victorian Age. The artist finished with two numbers from his current album Goodbye To Yesterday, which included the title track and the McCartney inspired A Big Boy Did It.

It was great to see the venue really busy and it was encouraging to see a lot of good will and support from family, friends and fans. Overall the set was highlighted by top notch musicianship and first rate material. Marc Vormawah is a gifted singer-songwriter and musician. A big thanks goes to David Nixon for filling me in on the details of Marc’s remarkable journey. There will be more music on the way from the artist, so watch this space.

Stuart Todd

Review © 2018 Stuart Todd, Liverpool Acoustic
Photo © 2018 Val Colvin

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Marc Vormawah

• Facebook – facebook.com/Marc-Vormawah-and-the-L8-Connection-151381474891878
• Twitter – @vormawahmarc

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