A faint spotlight searches the stage, giving the occasional glimpse of a lone figure. For the first song Ben Howard remains on his own, dressed in black, delicately strumming an electric guitar.
His band, consisting of three multi-instrumentalists who switch instruments between tracks, join him on stage and help produce the soaring folk harmonies his songs are known for. Throughout the set Howard displays amazing musician qualities, using an acoustic guitar to get percussive rhythms by tapping, slapping and knocking the sides.
You get the sense he doesn’t give himself an easy time vocally and makes himself work for it, pushing his voice to desperate places but never missing a note. Considering his talking voice has such a soft tone that it slightly gets lost while he talks to the audience, when he sings it fills the room with power and emotion. His set follows the same pattern as his songs, a measured start, teasing the audience with what is coming and then building up to a glorious crescendo of voices and cymbals.
The Wolves and Keep Your Head Up were the highlights of the show, songs that cry out for the audience to sing, clap and holler along.
Howard has an extremely warm tone to his voice and his songs are so tender it would have been nice to hear them in a more intimate setting, as occasionally the chatter from the audience took away from their beauty.
Published in Yorkshire Evening Post
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