A midweek acoustic intimate gig at The Fleece featuring a group of musicians who you may not know the names of but you will be familiar with the bands they used to play in.

Love Amongst Ruin opened that night with an intriguing set. The band of Steve Hewitt, former drummer with Placebo, with guitars and vocals from Gizz Butt, one time part of The Prodigy had predominantly 2 acoustic guitars but they had cleverly remixed/re-recorded some of the backing elements of their songs to add a little more depth and interest.

This wasn't them just playing a backing track, they had thought about how they could remix things to not sound like a 'band in a box' but add to the performance and I will say that it worked really well.  The sound had more depth and the set was fantastic and we were even treated to a new track from the next album "Once We Finish It". Only one small technical hitch which was greeted with Steve asking "Gizz, what are you doing, emailing your mum or ordering a pizza or something?" - Fantastic banter!

Paul Draper is best known for being the lead vocalist with band Mansun. Again, this was a stripped down acoustic set, giving a different take on a selection of songs across his timeline. He opened with a couple of tracks from the new album, Cult Leader Tactics, beckoning the small crowd forward to come closer so he could fit them all in the obligatory social media crowd shot. Not that Paul would be posting it, “I'm not allowed near social media, it gets me into trouble...."

Whilst small in number, these punters were definitely big fans with plenty of song suggestions for the setlist being shipped towards the stage.

'Annie' is definitely my favourite track from the new album and live, stripped back to just 2 acoustic guitars and Paul's strong vocals it was, for me, simply the highlight of the set. This had a very different feel in this format than the more rounded, polished production that the new album will no doubt display but it was clear that Paul's vocal shone bright despite the stripped back approach.

Words and Pictures (©) by GM Gig Photography