M. Ward at The Borderline

M. Ward

The Borderline, 25 February 2009

Two days later, after what I thought would undoubtedly be my gig of the year with Neko's outstanding Bush Hall show, I made my way to Charing Cross Road to see Matt Ward with his band. Funnily enough the last time I had seen him live was supporting Neko with an entirely acoustic set and he had blown me away with a chilling version of Daniel Johnston's Story Of An Artist played on piano. The shy Mr Ward arrived on stage by himself with just his guitar and immediately entranced the audience with three stark, acoustic numbers beginning with Hold Time, moving onto Lullaby and Chinese Translation.

But the M. Ward of old wasn't staying for too long because then the cheerful but still rather bashful Mr Ward brought on his band and the night turned into an old-fashioned, foot-stompingly enjoyable bluesy rock n' roll show (with Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry covers to boot).

The focus was on material from his new LP Hold Time, easily the most poppy of his albums so far, but translated live proved to also be his most rocking. Never Had Nobody Like You had people dancing and To Save Me was huge crowd-pleasing fun. But it was actually new band arrangements of some of his older songs that were the most celebratory with Poison Cup providing something of a sing-along and a blinding Magic Trick closing the show in triumphant style.

Most may know M. Ward simply as the Him of She & Him, but with more shows like this it can't be long until he'll be spoken about with just as much awe for his solo work.

So far, it's my gig of the year.

Photo from 'Sup Magazine