Tim Burgess with support from The Holy Innocents
27th October 2012 – Stiff Kitten, Belfast
To say Tim Burgess has been a busy man of late would be somewhat of an understatement. The keen tweeter has written autobiography Telling stories, been a part of indie super group ‘The Chavs’ and of course has his regular day job fronting The Charlatans, but tonight he is back in our wee Belfast performing at the Stiff kitten.
Kicking things off for Tim at Stiff kitten tonight is local band The Holy Innocents. Usually playing with a rhythm section the boys keep things simple by treating the small crowd to an acoustic set. Mellow folk like music soon drifts through the air, accompanied by a Jeff Buckley style vocal allowing many of this small crowd to sway along. Unfortunately the set doesn’t go without some tuning and technical mishaps but needless to say the boys certainly seem to have recruited a few new fans here tonight and have done Belfast proud as support for Tim Burgess.
As the crowd begins to grow a sudden roar of cheers and applause fill the small dark room. Tim Burgess and his band take their much-anticipated place on-stage A sudden silence takes over the room before Tim begins to serenade us with soulful, upbeat indie pop with a surprise country twist from songs off his new solo album ‘Oh No I Love You.’
Many of the now generously gathered crowd begin to sing along but again the set is hampered with technical difficulties. There are some problems getting the organ to work, but the always laid back Mr Burgess doesn’t seem too concerned and takes the opportunity to have some banter with the crowd. Their set is filled with chilled poetic songs and melodies, Tim takes the chance to treat this crowd to a more upbeat song, ‘The Doors of Then.’ One punter is particularly pleased and announces loudly “this is my song,” before taking to the front of the stage to throw some shapes. ‘A Case For Vinyl’ almost brings the place to a stand still as the mellow song shows off Tim’s flawless vocal perfectly, thankfully showing no signs of the issues that forced him to postpone a few shows earlier in the week. Moving to the encore, new single ‘White’ it is certainly favoured among the crowd here tonight as almost all who have gathered push to the front of the stage to show their appreciation.
Tim has certainly lived up to this crowd’s expectations as more huge cheers and wolf whistles fill the tiny dark venue while many punters chant for more. After leaving the stage Tim makes a second appearance to do a meet and greet with the punters, allowing them to have pictures taken with him as he signs autographs. He seemingly has a lot of time for his fans, he does admit it has been a long time since he has performed in Belfast and assures the worthy fans that he will be back as soon as he can. You’re always welcome here Tim don’t leave it too long.
