Roland Gift, Beck's Famous Spiegeltent
ROLAND GIFT'S million selling days are behind him, and most probably they will never be repeated.
The Fine Young Cannibals are no more, and their incredible chart success is but a memory.
None of this, however, stops Gift and his band from turning in a show that will live long in many people's memory.
Gift is far from being a faded star - on the contrary, his entrance is all the more dramatic because he hasn't been hawking his wares relentlessly for the past decade, and it's hard to imagine him turning in a better show.
He's lost none of his remarkable charisma, and certainly none of his vocal ability: from the word go, this is a performance of sheer mastery.Impressive
He has a band of impeccable musicians, wonderful players all of them. But none of them ever overplay or let a lead break turn into an indulgent solo. The song king is here, and Gift treats us to an hour-and-a-half of his greatest. It serves to remind you how good FYC were: Good Thing, Johnny Come Home, Funny How Love Is and one the best Elvis covers ever - Suspicious Minds - are all the more impressive for coming from the same mid-Eighties album, yet still sounding so wonderfully fresh. The Flame, She Drives Me Crazy and I'm Not the Man I Used to Be get the public out of their seats and onto the floor. The new material, while not boasting an obvious smash hit, is every bit as consistent as the old. Say It Ain't So is a heart-rending number that deserves to be a Motown standard one day. Here is a man who is writing songs as good as any he's ever penned - and that's saying something. His voice is better than it ever was. He has that rarest of gifts (pun intended): a voice that is unique and sounds like nobody else, but at the same time can sing anyone else's song better. If it's the old numbers you're after, there's plenty. If it's proof that Gift still lives up to his name, it's here in abundance. It doesn't matter if you're a long-time fan or just someone whose curiosity has been piqued by an old FYC song - your mission is the same: rush to the Spiegeltent box-office and get ready to dance like crazy.
Run ends tonight.
Simon McKenzie
