If I ever begin to doubt that great live music can lift my mood and make the world seem a better place, I will think back to this marvellous show. It was the perfect illustration. During a long pause after the opening act, the venue filled to its 500 capacity and became crowded and hot. I’m not keen on standing-up gigs these days, and my other half likes them even less. Uncomfortable with the heat and the crowd, she wandered off to sit on some steps in a blind spot. So far, so disheartening.
But then Frazey Ford and her band started playing, and within two numbers, this former leather workshop in northern Paris began to positively vibrate with energy. After three numbers, she told us: “There’s a GREAT vibe in here tonight.” And after four numbers, my other half was enjoying the vibe so much she came back and joined me.
Why review a show in Paris when Ford surely has more fans in Britain? Well, it helps that we live here. But also because the cancellation of the Black Deer Festival left her with no UK shows on this year’s European tour. Dates are promised next year. The Canada-born star was in a cheerful mood and spoke a lot between songs, but was nonplussed early on when she was given the strangest of compliments: “You have a beautiful woman, uh, chest,” said a female French voice near the front. Ford paused before saying: “Erm… (another pause)… thanks.” Which sparked a big laugh.
The aforesaid, uh, chest was discreetly enveloped in a glamorous black dress with sparkly adornments. Ford made it herself: “I have to neurotically be sewing something before a tour to distract myself from the terrifyingness of getting in front of a lot of people and singing,” she explained. After sewing four outfits this year, she finished too early, so made a fifth.
Although her “Indian Ocean” album from 2014 is one of my favourites and I saw her back in 2016 at the Barbican in London, I hadn’t paid much attention in recent years and didn’t listen to her 2020 release, “U Kin B The Sun”, until two days before this show. At first, I couldn’t get a handle on it. None of the songs leapt out. But hearing six of them played live, it all fell into place. I’m listening again as I write this, and I think it’s going to stay on repeat.
The 16-song set also included three originals each from “Indian Ocean” and 2010’s “Obadiah”. There were three covers plus an intense new number called ‘Bail Out’ which featured Ford’s most wildly physical performance of the night. A fourth album is needed soon, and, encouragingly, the audience reaction to this one unreleased song was one of the loudest and longest.
There were more huge cheers when she introduced the band: Gavin Youngash on guitar, Darren Parris on bass, Leon Power on drums and Caroline Ballhorn on backing vocals. There are very few guitar solos on her records – since she recorded “Indian Ocean” at Royal Studios in Memphis with Al Green’s old band, she has favoured Hammond organ and electric piano. But with his Telecaster as the only lead instrument, Youngash played concise and melodic solos that all drew spontaneous applause. And the rhythm section kept up a relentless groove that stood comparison with those legendary Memphis sidemen.
Ford herself alternated between acoustic guitar, piano and pure singing. Her voice is a thing of wonder. The first thing everyone notices is the natural vibrato, but there’s a soulfulness in the phrasing and expression that never found its full range in the folk songs of her first band, the Be Good Tanyas, great as they were. Ballhorn, meanwhile, has been singing with Ford since the latter days of the Tanyas, and “backing vocals” is far too modest a description for the way her harmonies weave in and out and curl all around the vocal melodies. Drummer Power added his rich voice to every song, too.
The best known of the covers was Bob Dylan’s ‘One More Cup of Coffee’ (which is on “Obadiah”), and Ford told how her “far-out hippy dad” began preaching “The Word of Bob” to her when she was only five. She resisted for years. “At the time I was like, he’s not even a very good SINGER,” she said, sparking more mirth.
When she announced mid-show that “the most important musician in the world has recently passed away”, I had no idea who she was going to name. It turned out to be D’Angelo, whose music is well outside my range. “I just think he’s the most beautiful human,” she said before playing her take on his song ‘When We Get By’. I found out later that she released this as a single in 2017. I also looked up the original and have to say I prefer hers.
Apart from the new number, the stand-out moments came with her two best-known songs, which on “Indian Ocean” feature those Memphis sidemen playing with such exquisite taste it takes your breath away. Look up the video for ‘September Fields’ to see her recording with them in Royal Studios. Its companion ‘Done’ (a great, great break-up song) was saved until the second encore, and many of the young French women around us were word-perfect in singing along. It was definitely a younger and prettier crowd than I’m used to at gigs, which prompted Ford to observe along the way: “I keep glancing out at the audience and it looks like, wait, they filled the room with models? What’s going on?”
It was obvious from the smiles on their faces that she and the band truly enjoyed playing for such a receptive audience. “There really is such a great energy in here tonight,” she said before taking selfies with the crowd behind her, then launching into the final number – the title track from “U Kin B The Sun”. We could hear people humming its anthemic final refrain all the way down the hill to Metro Gambetta in the deep Paris dark.
The show was opened by a fellow Canadian who calls herself Phantom (real name Claris Figueira). She sang solo with a Telecaster, and I couldn’t get on with her wavery voice. But the crowd reaction was warm and positive. Frazey Ford rates her highly and is co-producing her first material, out soon. Her song ‘Punchline’ had first-rate lyrics, and there’s a demo on Bandcamp, along with a studio recording of ‘Everything’s About To Go Right Forever’. Phantom is a difficult name to search for (thanks to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical), but @iheardaphantom should get you there.
