Serena Ryder at Revival
Because I'm in one of my occasional 'buy tickets to anything that looks remotely interesting' moods lately, I picked up tickets to see Serena Ryder at the Revival last night. I've been hearing about the great and wonderous Serena from P2er Richard Flohil for months and months now, but I rather tend not to put too much faith in the opinion of one person, especially if he gets paid to hold it (sorry, Richard!). I'd picked up a copy of her CD, Unlikely Emergency a few weeks back, and found it to be pretty listenable, though, so decided to give the show a shot.
Went early, still didn't get a place to sit, so stood through the entire set of the very unfortunate opening act. I'm told he has a day job, which is probably a good thing for him. Not that he was entirely lacking in talent, but he seemed almost to be a caricture of a singer-songwriter rather than an actual singer-songwriter. I attributed this largely to his drunkeness on stage, but apparently it's his shtick. Too much cheap beer, deliberate overacting, whatever it is, it ain't working.
Serena, on the other hand, is something else. I've heard some absolute goddesses sing live, but I've not been that blown away by a show since the first time I saw Neko. Her voice, presence and good humour really shine through on the stage.
She opened with an a capella Melancholy Blue that was heartbreaking. She has one of those angelic voices - where the angel's been spending a little too much time with the sacramental wine. My favourite singers are women with powerful voices that they push to the edges. Strong, assertive voices with just enough heartache behind them. Serena is, without a doubt, one of these.
Laying down a show that was variably accoustic, electric and a capella, Serena was graceful and witty from the stage. There were some technical difficulties - microphones that were off, guitars that needed a fair stretch of tuning - but it was all handled well. Indeed, her "I'm making you all listen to me tune my guitar" ditty was quite amusing. Her demeanour is assured and confident, but not cocky or overly aggressive. Her vocal range is broad, and she hits bright highs and deep, dark lows equally well.
Covers included Natural Woman, Lovesick Blues and an a capella At Last that must have been spiritually channelling Etta James. The a capella tracks on Unexpected Emergency are a couple of my least favourite, but
I see now that it's only because the blazing force of her performance doesn't come across my cheap speakers.
It was also a real pleasure to have finally met up with Richard. He and his business partner Laurie are both gracious, friendly people, and I enjoyed talking to them. It was particularly interesting to get some background information on Serena from Richard. He's like a proud papa when he talks about her, it's really cute. Plus, he promised to send me a disc from one of the other artists he works with, which marks my first ever music industry schwag!
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