Steve Cradock - A very quiet stroll in London!

**1/2

Someone wake Steve up!

Steve Cradock **1/2 for me is a weird edition to a Bluesfest, but what is the Blues actually Anyways? I my eyes it's music played with feeling to a certain amount of notes and a particular tone, but maybe I am wrong. The other problem I have with his set today is that I don't feel that Steve fells totally at home today playing this festival and at times it is just so laid back. I even had to shake myself to see if I am still awake and if I didn't think I would have been thrown out! I would have gone and shaken him too to see if he was awake too. I know this is the Bluesfest day stroller but I didn't think it was going to be this slow paced. I actually liked Steve's last album 'Travel Wild, Travel Free' which was his third solo release, but then again I was kind of listening to it as background music and I wondered how he would produce this to be more exciting as a live spectacle. 

I would say the new material verges on Folk not Blues so I think would go down better at somewhere like the Cornbury Festival. I have to say the music doesn't go across the way he attended at the Royal Albert Hall, it just seems like a bit wishy washy! like a mellow version of The Beatles if you were relaxing in your lounge. This is also not helped by the amount of kids that are playing around at the front putting him and the viewer off, If I had paid to go into the show I would not have been happy with this. The off putting kids are not Steve's fault but the lack of ambition to put something into the show is and he has some good material to do this with.

One of the best tracks is his hit 'I am the Sea' which has a mid 90's meet 60's Indie feel to it, so that grab my attention a bit and it even verges on some of the material by The Doors, it has that kind of hint of Psychedelia to it if you mixed it with the sound of The Beatles. I quite like mid way through the track 'Sheer Inertia' which has some good direction to it and is quite short and to the point and is one of the better moments in his set and is off his new record. 'Running Away' is a song that maybe should have been released in the 60's or early 70's it has that feel to it and you can see a few people tapping their feet to it, so I think if you love the 60's sound you might really like this song. The next few songs just flutter past and I kind of lose my attention span until they come to a song I recognise hearing Steve play with someone else. 

'Doodle Book' sounds a little too swirly and spaced out and doesn't really go anywhere but is a good radio friendly song, with so many great Ocean colour Scene songs to bring out of his arsenal, I am very surprised he decided to pick this one. When it comes to the last number in his set he seems to have woken up a bit and delivers a great version of his song 'I Man' and I just wish he had done this earlier but better late than ever.

This is a great song and the way he plays it is really good and again the musicianship is really good and the song flows quickly by and is the highlight of a slightly boring set. I wouldn't rush out and see Steve Cradock again but give me a CD I will listen to it because every one has had some artistic merit to it, If you like Ocean colour Scene, The Beatles or Paul Weller you might like this. Maybe this is just not my cup of tea it didn't really grab my attention like some of the other things Steve has done in the past so if he had added some of this the show might have been more uplifting.

Steve Cradock - Setlist

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Last Days Of The Old World
Travel Wild
Wind Blows
The Apple
I am the Sea
Shear Inertia
Only look Up
Running Away
The Clothes They Stood Up In
Magic Hour
Finally Found My Way Back Home
Dreaming
Doodle Book
I Man

Review and Photo's by Dan Devour

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