Anny Celsi / Nelson Bragg Tour – Newcastle









GIG: Anny Celsi / Nelson Bragg with support from The Fast Camels
DATE: Monday July 13th 2009
VENUE: The Cluny, Newcastle
COST: £7
RATING: Fun on the Tyne


It was a small, intimate, yet enthusiastic audience that gathered at the Cluny, on this wet Monday evening to see the first gig in the Anny Celsi and Nelson Bragg tour, which also included The Fast Camels on the bill. A technical problem with the van The Fast Camels hired to make the trip from Glasgow to Newcastle (the key broke in the lock) meant that they were delayed, so the music started an hour later than planned.

But it was worth the wait. Anny & Nelson up first, Anny with an acoustic guitar and Nelson behind a snare drum, with a tambourine taped to his left foot, and shakers wrapped around his wrist for the added percussion. Later in their set, Nelson took over the strings of the acoustic and Anny plugged in with her electric guitar. Just two of the highlights of their almost 1 hour set, were “Little Black Dress”, the title track from Anny’s first album, and a rendition of “To Sir With Love”, which Anny’s vocals did great justice to. They also did a fabulous cover of the Lee Hazlewood song "Some Velvet Morning".

Nelson also had the opportunity to showcase some of his songs, including “Forever Days”, and a crowd pleaser cover of The Beach Boys, “God Only Knows” (a song he had recorded with his other band, The Mockers).

The Fast Camels (www.myspace.com/thefastcamels) were called onto stage and they supported Anny on the title track of her latest release, “Tangle Free World”, which is a very luscious song, with harmonies, a great tune and a real ‘feel good’ vibe. The guitars and drums from The Fast Camels really gave it zest as well.

Anny and Nelson left the stage and The Fast Camels started their own set filled with Psychedelic pop, with “Magic Optician”, “Der Nazi Tea” and a preview of some of the songs that will be released on their next CD. Any opportunity to see this band, we take as they are a fun band to watch and their music is really good, covering intricate arrangements which seem to meld loads of different songs into one. Anny and Nelson joined the band on stage towards the end of their set, adding backing vocals and tambourines to the mix.

It says a lot for musicianship, and live music when bands have the confidence in their own ability and can mix and match and join in with one another’s songs with little or no practice before hand, and in our opinion, this makes a great show. I doubt the prefab X-Factor winners would be able to feel such confidence.

We think Anny’s CD will do wonders for Minty’s temperament as she makes the journey around the M25 to work every day, as her soothing vocals will really take the stress out of dealing with the other road hogs! And it’s the kinda CD you’ll want to put on the player when you get home from work and just want to de-stress and relax.

Tonight, there was only a small audience, which was, no doubt, a bit of a disappointment to the performers, and we sincerely hope that as the tour progresses around the UK, more people pop along to see Anny & Nelson, as it is certainly worth it. None the less, the guys had passion and delivered a great almost 2 hours of music. The Cluny itself is a good venue, a decent size, a high stage, and clean loos! Not sure why they sell different beers in the music room than they do in the main pub though!!!

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