David Gray by Michael Heatley

Author:Michael Heatley [Michael, Heatley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-85712-052-6
Publisher: Music Sales Limited
Published: 2004-03-18T05:00:00+00:00

* An industry source has speculated David’s trio sold marginally half that in total their first time round.

* David and Clune would also appear as the resident band of the pub in which the film’s characters drank.

* The Lawrence Kasdan-directed western movie starring Kevin Kline and John Cleese.

CHAPTER 6

Selling White Ladder

The new album finished, taking the music to the people was the next step. And as he awaited the release of what would become his breakthrough album, the summer of 1998 was to see David Gray reborn on the open-air stages of Britain and Ireland. Wherever there was a festival you could almost guarantee he’d be there.

The Fleadh ’98 in London’s Finsbury Park in June was typical. Once a celebration of music from the Emerald Isle, the open-air festival had broadened its musical policy considerably (and would continue to do so: 2001 would find the definitely non-Celtic Neil Young headlining). But it was certain David Gray’s Irish connections hadn’t proved any hindrance to obtaining an invite.

As a lesser-known artist, David was not considered worthy to grace the main stage but was cloistered away in the Time Out tent. Yet from the moment he hit the stage with just the inevitable Clune in tow, the omens were good — even if they’d had to set up their own gear unassisted! The marquee crowd had been warmed up by folkies Equation and then Ghostland, Sinead O’Connor’s backing band, who performed a set of their own before returning to end the evening’s entertainment (on that particular stage, at least) with their patron. Both early acts won enthusiastic applause, but Gray and Clune’s impact with just a single acoustic guitar and drum kit would prove every bit as popular.

That said, they were entertaining an audience necessarily unfamiliar with their work. You’d have had to have been a convert from earliest days to recognise the opening ‘Living Room’ from A Century Ends, but its uptempo nature and copious references to “heads full of beer” made it a more than appropriate choice for the Guinness-sponsored (and fuelled) festival. Gray both saluted and took the mickey out of the occasion, climbing on to the drum riser to perform a mock ‘stadium rock band’ ending.

This well received opener was followed by ‘The Light’, stand-out track from Flesh, which enabled long-time fans in the by now sizeable audience to identify themselves by singing lustily along. A new, mid-paced song, ‘Nightblindness’ — a B-side that would find a place on the re-vamped White Ladder — faded out in stately fashion rather than stopping abruptly, leaving the as-yet unfamiliar audience uncertain exactly when to applaud (“that was definitely a moment” he quipped, clearly enjoying himself).

The odd audience requests for early material (like Flesh’s ‘New Horizons’) were brushed off in favour of another newie, ‘Sail Away’, from White Ladder.* But time on this particular day was necessarily short, a Time Out tent slot being limited to not much more than half an hour. Accordingly, ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’ was chosen to close

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