Capital fans unleashed on the Fleesh

Richard Fleeshman ***
Cabaret Voltaire

ANYONE expecting Richard Fleeshman's own music to reflect that of his Coronation Street character would have been in for a bit of a surprise.

Craig Harris was nowhere to be found as 'The Fleesh' and his band trundled their way through a soulful set last night at Cabaret Voltaire.

He showed great taste in support acts too: Glasgow's Pearl And The Puppets are frequent and welcome visitors to the Capital, although recently Pearl – aka Katie Sutherland – played solo in support of Emma Pollock. Given a full band to work with, she stormed through an energetic show, despite having just flown back from the continent earlier in the day. Opening song Because I Do got yelps of recognition from the crowd, who were behind the band all the way to the closer, Make Me Smile. Some decently-sized headlining gigs are long overdue for this soon-to-be-big band.

Screams of anticipation filled the hall and, when the band finally took the stage, the slightly-disappointingly small crowd went nuts; whistling and screaming for Fleeshman, as though the place was packed to capacity.

Play It Down The Middle opened the show featuring some magical Hammond organ-playing from keyboardist Rich Milner. If this were a football game, he'd win 'man of the match' hands down, so powerful was his playing. He added a real sense of presence to every song the Hammond was used on.

Fleeshman has a varied voice: Live, he was sometimes breathy, sometimes loud and brash, but through it all he came off almost as a 70's white soul singer. No bad thing if you can pull it off, and for the most part, he did. The songs, like Sum Of Us and These Days were more than solid enough and, backed by great musicians, they got the best showcase possible. He mentioned that it was the smallest gig they'd played in quite a while, but added that he loved the intimacy of such small venues.

Bill Withers' classic, Ain't No Sunshine gave his voice a real soul workout though, and gave guitarist Rene the opportunity to shine into the bargain.

The song has been covered by a wealth of well-known singers, from Sting to Ladysmith Black Mambazo to Van Morrison, so this passionate version was in good company. It came as little surprise during the show to learn that the band were supporting Elton John on tour.

"Please may I touch your hair?" read a sign, held up by a fan in the middle of the crowd. Fleeshman thought for a moment, before replying, "Maybe later." To her obvious excitement, and another round of uncontrolled screaming from the rest of the (perhaps slightly jealous) audience.

A new ballad, Orchid, featured lots of falsetto singing, while singles Hold Me Close (not the David Essex hit of years gone by) and Back Here found the fans singing along, encouraged cheerfully by the ex-soap star.

Slightly tinged with the sound of Elvis Costello, Skyline gave way to Going Backwards, before a four song encore finally satisfied the crowd, exhausting their voices.

There may be a few sore screamed-out throats in the morning, but a lot of good memories from the night before.