Tempting tempestuousness

The Old Vic hosted a scintillating night of poetry headlined by Kate Tempest.

Two energetic comperes opened and directed the show.

Azir Ahmed opened the poetry with humour and sound word-smithery.

Raising dry smiles with close to the bone truths.

Not bad for a man who described himself after the performance as a 'tag along'.

Feminist rhyme

Hollie McNish, who has already made herself known to me on the radio with the poem Wow, kicked things into a more feminine head space.

A more loving, powerful and inspiring poem about a daughter I cannot bring to mind.

The rest of her set also marked her out as more than a one trick pony.

Say it with rhythm

David J truly earned the right to his name, The Vocal Pugilist, with a performance not only heart warming and beautifully woven, but skillfully and inventively spun with beat box effects.

The night offered politics, poignancy, life and laughs woven in poems and stories in a heady mix to soothe the soul and lift the heart.

I would love to mention all the warm up acts by name as they all have a great deal of talent, but I need to get onto the main event.

The lady in question

Kate Tempest, a lady of promisingly expanding renown who still seems to be chuffed to bits to be here as she launched her new book Everything Speaks.

She presented a collection of the mythical and the personal with a warmth, humour and enthusiasm to charm any cynic.

This exuberance unfortunately meant that she lost her flow a little, but she gained it back in style and kept everyone smiling.

Surprises and emotion

Smiling so much in fact that she even won an unsought marriage proposal.

I don't think I've ever seen her bow her head or blush before.

A wonderful evening, a standing ovation and an emotional roller coaster.

Whipping up a storm

Gig time again.

I spirited myself (via tube) to The Old Queen's Head in Islington to see Sound of Rum perform in celebration of their single release of Slow Slow.



Kwaking in anticipation

I'll get to the rum lot in a minute, but first I need to dedicate a bit of word space to Kwake who Kate introduced with such great respect.

Kwake normally plays with The Speakers Corner Quartet, who I stumbled across playing for free at Tate Britain sometime last year and was truly impressed.

His solo performance was in the same spirit as the work of the quartet: trippy, haunting and inventive.

Kwake being a drummer was perhaps more beat driven, but I was still transported back to the feeling of calm and inspiration that hit me on stumbling upon him playing in Tate Britain.

A bit of poetry

Kate Tempest (Sound of Rum lead vocalist) gave an equally warm reception to Chester P, with the words: "If you don't know who this man is I don't know what to say to you."

I guess we won't be having many conversations from now on then...

The man certainly had swagger and the kind of biting anger that is good to see in a poet, but he needs to build the kind of command that means his words leave people awe struck.

Rum time

After greeting each performance with a gusto and love that is hard to match Kate Tempest was left to introduce...

Herself and the rest of Sound of Rum.

It's a good job she's such a funny compere.

I have reviewed Sound of Rum before and a lot of the comments still apply.

The music is masterfully, yet talentedly understated.

The lyrics are passionate, um, lyrical and relevant.

And Kate sweeps you into a journey of enthusiasm and anger that leaves you buzzing and hopeful.

Modern day orator

It is a delight to hear such heartfelt and original lyrics, but I was really very near to tears of joy and laughter when Kate launched into the story of Prometheus.

If Homer and his like had been alive now, they would have told it like that.

Hats off to you girl.

And great respect to Ferry and Archie for weaving their instrumental magic to finish it all off.

Go and buy the single, go on...