Chris Helme & Elaine Palmer - 22nd March 2001
(Rob Nichols - The Evening Gazette & Keep it Live! Magazine)

Chris Helme at The Lion Inn, Blakey Ridge was one of my personal highlights of last summer. The ex-Seahorses singer was back again recently, blowing most of 2001's fayre out of the water with another supreme performance at the very same venue...........

Elaine Palmer's tour seemed to stretch on forever. I was writing about it in the last issue and here we are a month later and the Danby diva is finally coming closer to home. Just up the hill, at The Lion Inn, Blakey Ridge, supporting Chris Helme no less. Blakey was a real beacon in the wilderness on this bitterly cold winter's Thursday. Foot and mouth has reduced takings of late, but not the size of the audience that braved the thick hill fog and driving sleet. The "Sold Out" signs were up well in advance of the night and many sought solace in pints of ale when turned away at the restaurant door, converted for the night into a 150 capacity venue. It was a superb pin-drop quality sound which Elaine exploited to the full to woo the massing crowd. Mixing up the tender with those worldly wise words that so readily trip off her tongue.

Last time here Chris Helme played solo. Tonight he started off in the same fashion, playing three songs orbiting around the sun, drawing in the audience and casting his rays over all. A Seahorses rendition brought forth a spontaneous singalong. It was cold outside, but there was a very warm feeling indeed inside.

The band shuffled onto stage, including the brilliant James Nesbitt on acoustic and 12-string guitar. Oh, and the beard in the corner belonged to the ex-Seahorses bass player, Stu Fletcher. The sound opened out immediately, accompanying Chris on his journey through the infectious, the chilled out, the sensitive and the absolutely bloody awesome. Stirring ballads, blinding vocals, a voice that wraps itself around you. A couple of covers, Tim Buckley's "Dolphins" and the Stones' "No Expectations", conclude a phenomenal night. We finally depart into the cold, foggy Moors feeling like we are wearing a Ready Brek glow.

The Chris Helme gig on 22nd March was great. I saw him down at Ronnie Scott's on Sunday with the same line-upand thought they were great there, but they were even better at Blakey. I assume they had been rehersing a bit.

Thanks,
Daniel

Really enjoyed the session at Blakey last Thursday night. I have always thought the true sign of a musical genius is the courage to use slow tempo and pauses at times in music (the power of silence). Chris, you have that plus a brilliant sound. Keep up the good work!

Regards
Colin

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