Zara McFarlane @ Sage Gateshead. February 20.

Zara McFarlane (vcl); Binker Golding (ten); ???(pno); Max Luthart (bs); Moses Boyd (dms).

(Review by Lance).

Hall Two was ground floor full. I guess Hall One did better - Richard and Adam of  Britain's Got Talent "fame"! Well, for my money, there was a lot more talent in Hall Two tonight!

I'd reviewed Zara's CD If You Knew Her earlier this month so I knew this was going to be a cracking gig and it certainly was. The majority of the numbers were from the current CD plus a couple from her previous effort, Until Tomorrow. In fact my favourite of the whole concert was from that earlier CD - More Than Mine. Perhaps it was the inspiration behind the song that got me. A tale of seeing your ex in a supermarket with somebody new and trying to hide behind the vegetable rack but being spotted. This girl sings about life!

But they were all good. Police and Thieves (The Clash), Nina Simone's Plain Gold Ring plus a host of originals by the lady herself. Her pitching is impeccable over a very wide range and her scatting reminiscent of Ella, Sarah and Anita at their best.

As if this wasn't enough, Binker Golding blew great tenor sax. His interchanges with Zara = excitement unlimited¹°. Luthart and Boyd kept the rhythm section flowing, totally relaxed. I didn't catch the name of the pianist. It certainly wasn't Peter Edwards who plays on the disc. 

A superb evening - Richard and Adam? Who needs you?

Well it seemed just about every taxi in town did. There were so many taxis outside of Sage Gateshead that my poor Quaylink bus was marooned amidst them unable to move in either direction until the Hall One show was over. Nothing for me to do but to leg it over to the 27 bus stop. Missed the bus by about 10 seconds. So What? Up the bank to the Metro for the South Shields train. Missed it by about 5 seconds!

Despite all this, I wouldn't have missed the concert even if I'd had to walk home.

Lance.
PS: A special mention of Shirley (and her husband) who I met during the interval. Shirley came to my rescue when I told her my pen had ran out. She gave me hers - without that act of kindness this review couldn't have been written!
Thank you Shirley.