Tom Moriarty

Cheltenham Playhouse, Cheltenham - It was a hot summers night and the beach was burning, so that Mr. Meatloaf fella sang, and as I head down the M6 and the M5 towards the spa town of Cheltenham, it felt like everything was burning such is the heatwave that has drenched pretty much all of England over the past few days.

Cheltenham is a little further than I would normally travel, but a man I first met back in October last year, supporting Ally Venable in Manchester and then more recently in May, supporting Philip Sayce in Chester, caused me to make the effort. On both of those nights Tom Moriarty astounded pretty much everyone, when neither crowd had any real knowledge of him or any illusions as to what to expect. He sauntered on stage, solo, the first time and with Ryan Robinson as wing man the second, totally unassuming, and ‘got down to it’ promptly gaining everyone’s attention and appreciation with a smooth set of tunes mainly taken from his now released album, ‘Chapters’, - which is, in fact, his fifth. Who knew ?

Anyway, let’s get on with it.

There’s no Support act, as it’s all about the new album, so at the designated hour, our man appears and this time he’s definitely not on his own as he’s surrounded by a good eight others for good measure.

The first five songs do indeed come from ‘Chapters’ and in the order that they’re on the album. ‘The Enemy Inside’ is a barnstormer of a song that sets the tone for what we’re about to receive, but to give us chance to get our breath back - and in consideration of the heat, perhaps – ‘Leave it All Behind’ is a little slower and appropriate for the reflective message in the lyrics, about moving on.

Moriarty is as good a storyteller as he is lyricist as most of the songs are about past experiences such as ‘She’s Like a River’ - about a love from long ago - and with Moriarty switching to an acoustic and supported by ‘wing man’ Ryan Robinson who reciprocates.

Moriarty is as passionate about guitars as he is song writing and as he changes instruments once more, he tells the tale of a favourite guitar shop in Denmark Street in London, “the kind where you spend hours picking up dozens of guitars until one speaks to you”, and on this occasion, 30 years ago, it did, and it’s this very guitar that he uses to perform ‘Until The Levy Breaks’, a song about people expressing themselves. The man has clearly put a lot of thought into this and all the dots have been nicely joined.

There’s a brief trip down memory lane for ‘Fire in the Dolls House’ from his debut album of the same name. ‘A pearl amongst the oysters’ is how Radio 2 described it, by all accounts before we have the obligatory “buy some merch so I can record the next album” plea, “which is being worked on now”, and with a promote one, promote all attitude the next three songs, Rise And Fall, Cool With Me and Riptide are all taken from it. Moriarty admits that the next album “is a blues one and is what I tend to do when I play electric guitar”.

You can tell there’s been a big shift in style too as there’s some seriously punchy drums from Fuke and some solid bass lines from Guillen, both holding the back line together, whilst a gorgeous Hammond from Glossop runs right across the back, wrapping around everything and knitting it tightly together. There is no doubt that ‘blues rock’ is a direction Moriarty will handle without any concerns.

The Strings had taken a back seat whilst all this went on, but now they’re back as we head towards home – or towards a certain game of World Cup football against Paraguay if you’re that way inclined. The full on surround sound is complete again and is wonderful to hear with all nine playing their part to the max - totally untourable as the costs would be astronomical but if Moriarty does do it again it’ll be well worth the ticket price, whatever that may be.

The final three songs are all from ‘Chapters’. ‘On the Road Again’ tells about his much travelled lifestyle living in different towns, cities and countries. “I wouldn’t have it any other way”, he says. The last song of the night “unless we shout very loudly” is called ‘You Are My Island’, again with gorgeous bv’s being caressed by that Hammond once again.

Now for a real encore, rules dictate that the band leave the stage, the audience go wild and demand ‘one more’ and the band come back on and oblige, but as Moriarty says, “When you pick a date well in advance you have no idea what else may be going on and I’m aware that in 20 minutes time that match is about to start”. So, with no more messing about, they hit it hard with ‘Hard Times’. Big, loud and proud with everyone giving it everything they’ve got for one last throw of the dice.

I’m glad that I fell across Tom Moriarty, a few moons ago in Support of Ally Venable, and that I got the chance to witness this album and part of the next with a full band. This was a very good night out and well worth enduring the heat that the venue produced – Victorian buildings and air conditioning don’t mix in most cases, and in this one it’s not possible, so… Where Moriarty goes next, I don’t know, back solo, with just a wing man or with a compromise on the nine piece that we got to enjoy this evening, whichever direction he goes, I will be there.

Tom Moriarty's Setlist

1.     Enemy Inside

2.    Leave It All Behind

3.    She’s Like A River

4.    One Day

5.    Until The Levy Breaks

6.    Fire In The Dolls House

7.    Rise And Fall

8.    Cool With Me

9.    Riptide

10.  On The Road Again

11.  You Are My Island

12.  Hard Times

Tom Moriarty’s Band Were…

Joe Glossop - Keys

James Fuke - Drums

Thibault Guillen - Bass

Ryan Robinson - Guitar

Stephanie Cavey - Violin

Isabella Dembinska - Cello

Lucie Meiselle - BVs

Simeon Hammond Dallas - BVs