Jack Savoretti returned to the world of music in 2021 with a wonderful album that arrived complete with its own genre, ‘Europiana’.
To celebrate, Jack embarked on a 12 date UK tour which kicked off at the Plymouth Pavilions and finishes up at London’s Eventim Apollo.
It was on this tour that we sent two of our newest recruits to the O2 Academy in Newcastle to catch Jack’s live show, would it be awash with middle aged ladies all trying their best to launch their panties onto the stage (a la Tom Jones) or would it be more of a wholesome night of entertainment? Read on to find out….
Knowing that the support act was only drafted in at 3pm on the day of the show was quite impressive, okay, she was a mutual friend of Jack’s but even so, a great thing to be Abe to have done at short notice. Heidi Curtis is a local lass from North Shields, such a down to earth young woman who had never played the city Hall before so I imagine quite an eye opener for her. It was just Heidi and her guitar as she kicked off with a song called ‘Pieces’ and went on to do a few others including a cover of Chris Isaac’s ‘Wicked Game’ which sounded sublime. She managed to keep the crowd engaged throughout her set with her familiar twang and giggles and it was great to see the room warming to her so well.
The City Hall was completely sold out and packed to the rafters with an audience of mixed ages, I'd say from 30 upwards but there was a smattering of oldies who, like us, had fallen for the silver coated vocal chords of Jack Savoretti, every middle aged woman’s fantasy! I will add that the room was made up mostly of females but there were a few men in there enjoying the music too.
The atmosphere was expectant and built until it was electrifying and as time wore on, became almost unbearable, when the lights dropped and Jack took to the stage, the excitement hit fever pitch and we were off!
Jack kicked off with a couple of songs from his latest album ‘Europiana’ including ‘Too Much History’ which went down a storm. Following this, he went on to play some of his older, dare I say, more familiar tracks including ‘Candlelight’, ‘What More Can I Do’, ‘Catapult’, and ‘Dr Frankenstein’ which raised the roof a few more inches from its already elevated position.
Jack dedicated his track ‘Soldier’s Eyes’ to the people of Ukraine which was a lovely thing to do.
A memorable moment for me was when he was talking to the crowd about how he's been coming to Newcastle since day one when people were shutting doors on him. He played The Cluny back in his early days and afterwards, whilst having a smoke, met a man who told him that his music meant so much to him that he had one of Jack’s album covers tattooed on his heart which really meant a lot to Jack (as it would have done any artist). He asked if that man was at the show tonight and, after a slight pause, a man stood up on the balcony and the whole place cheered. Jack remembered that the man had been was accompanied with his dad when he met him and was clearly touched to see him sat next to him on the balcony, a true heartfelt moment that would have placed a tear in most eyes at the show!
The band gathered together at one corner of the stage to simulate being on a much smaller one like they would have been in the early days and played a few songs including the recent release ‘The Way You Said Goodbye’.
It was great to see the audience on their feet for most of the show and come the end of set 1, the place was rumbling as feet were stamped and hands clapped for an encore. The band duly obliged with ‘You Don't Have To Say You Love Me’ which started in Italian (at least I think it was Italian!)
All in all, a fantastic night, full of enthusiastic fans, a talented band and of course, the honey dipped vocal chords of Jack Savoretti. It was an evening of highs, a great live music experience that took you on a roller coaster of upbeat numbers and slower, more heartfelt songs, certainly something that I’d be more than happy to repeat again in the future.
For the record, our panties remained where they should have been!
Review by Sammantha Worboys and Gemma Davison