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Venue: Whitchurch Festival Date: 4th August 2001
Set list: The Field of Fallen Angels; War Heroes; A Part of Me; Fusion; Last Human Gateway; Medley (Tatras/Quilmes); The Final Solution; Evensong; Promises; The Overload; The Days of Our Lives.
Encore: Red
Have you ever stopped to think how some things are thought of almost automatically in pairs? I am talking about things that have an intimate association whereby one without the other just does not seem right,
for example fish and chips, the sun and moon, rhubarb and custard - the list is very long indeed.
Well, to that list there is another pairing that has the same inevitability, where one without the other would be almost unthinkable; I refer of course to Martin Orford and The Whitchurch Festival.
In the three years I have attended the festival, this was the third time in succession where Martin has been on the billing, but always there seems to be a twist.
In 1999 he teamed up with Gary Chandler, last year he performed as a solo artist with recorded backing filling the gaps. This year it was great to have him playing with a full supporting cast consisting of fellow IQ and Jadis stable mate John Jowitt on bass, the inimitable Steve Christie playing drums, and last, but certainly not least, Mark Westwood on guitars.
When Martin played Whitchurch last year the set largely featured material from his, then just released, solo album 'Classical Music and Popular Songs'.
This year it was perhaps inevitable that the show would keep this emphasis - and indeed, the band managed to play the majority of the album in the time allocated to them.
The show opened in confident fashion with 'The Field of Fallen Angels', a song which in parts sounded as if it could easily have been written for IQ and, despite problems Martin was having with his microphone stand,
which would not stay upright, it came across very well indeed.
After a short introduction to the band during which he pointed out the enormous "cock-up potential" that could arise from playing with such a 'new' band, Martin announced an infrequently played IQ number
from the 'Are You Sitting Comfortably' album in the shape of 'War Heroes'.
While this track may not be an obvious choice, it is nice to have the chance to hear songs like this rather than just having the predictable standards being rehashed time and time again. The band seemed to be enjoying playing this one, and from the vocal point of view Martin did an outstanding job - the crowd too seeming to be joining in en masse towards the end.
Next on the running order came two more tracks from Martin's solo album.
The first, 'A Part of Me' featured some impressive guitar play from Mark Westwood. This song was sung on the album by John Wetton, who could be spotted in the crowd during the show. This was followed by the instrumental 'Fusion' which, as Martin pointed out, is a track with 'a slightly medieval slant'. John and Steve put in a solid performance throughout this one, but it's the keyboard role that really stands out here and the performance was a definite crowd pleaser.
The next part of the show saw the boys from the band leaving Martin in control of the stage and, with no sequencers to help out, we were treated to a truly solo performance of the final section of IQ's 'The Last
Human Gateway', which I have always found a particularly poignant piece.
The choice of a medley of the two instrumental tracks 'Tatras' and 'Quilmes', next in the running order, maintained the atmosphere very well - although I must say I was disappointed by the level of chatter going on around me while I tried to enjoy Martin's skillful keyboard work.
As the crowds applauded enthusiastically the band returned to the stage, Mark Westwood pausing briefly to pin a picture of the evil Monty Burns (from The Simpsons cartoon) to the front of Martin's Keyboards.
Two more pieces from Martin's solo album came next - the fairly upbeat 'The Final Solution', followed by the more subdued tones of 'Evensong'.
Martin announced that he would attempt the impossible here by playing flute and keyboards; a feat which required the use of a sequencer which had earlier given some trouble during the sound check, although thankfully no problems were apparent during the live rendition of this rather stirring instrumental.
Martin started to introduce the next song by saying "From something very recent to something not so recent - IQ's nearest if not greatest hit..."
At this point John Jowitt asked to take over, and proceeded to tell an amusing anecdote about a visit to Argentina where the track in question, 'Promises', was quite well known having been used on a TV commercial for a Ski resort! Again, as the music got underway the effect was immediate and the sing along factor certainly came into play here. JJ was clearly in his element and it has to be said that the playing from all concerned was excellent, the only problem was the loss of some of the familiar backing vocals in the mix, but that was a small matter.
To close the set, two more tracks from 'Classical Music and Popular Songs'. The slightly Celtic sounding 'The Overload', followed by a rousing version of 'The Days of Our Lives'.
For this final song Martin introduced his new "toy", a WX5 wind synthesiser, which seems to be played in the same fashion as a saxophone and which sounded brilliant - I suspect it is an instrument we will be hearing more of in the future.
Any doubts that Martin may have had about pulling together a band at short notice for this year's show must have been banished by the end of the set as the audience cheered their approval for the evening's work, and
made it clear they were not going to leave without an encore being played.
After a couple of minutes break, the band returned to the stage and for no reason other than they all wanted to play it, they launched into a performance of the King Crimson classic 'Red'. I know a good many people get upset by covers of bands like Crimson, to which all I can say is that the spirit and enjoyment that went into this number was readily apparent and certainly nobody in the hall seemed to mind.
Same time same place next year? Lets hope so!
Simon
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