Martin Stephenson (plus support Will Lavene)

The magnificent magnanimous Martin Stephenson was back, almost a year after his first appearance at Acoustic & Eclectic.  I had grave doubt in my mind whether he could top that earlier performance (and for those of you who remember last year, you will no doubt recall that there was some apprehension as to whether he would show up at all, having gone AWOL, but after a search party was sent out to trace his whereabouts he was found in a nearby Tapas bar, much to everyone's relief...)  Anyway, before Martin arrived, Will Lavene entertained us with his short and punchy authentic blues numbers.  Will had a very relaxed style and eased his way through the songs accompanied by his trusty acoustic guitar.  It was nice to see Will actually performing, as for the first year or so of the Acoustic & Eclectic nights he was at Olives in a totally different capacity, managing  the café and could be found behind the counter making sure things ran smoothly at the bar.  Obviously he had other talents which he was keeping hidden until now.

After a short break in the proceedings Martin Stephenson took to the stage, this time sporting a nice "Cowboy" shirt and dispensing with a chair, standing up he exuded lots of energy and had a certain urgency about him which last time he was lacking.  He went straight into a few simple guitar ditties, nice little tunes with a few "bent" notes, donning a grin from ear to ear.  As is usual with Martin, he filled in the songs with running commentaries in-between the lyrics and you can't help but feel that you are having a small peak into the marvels of his mind, although I am not sure what it all means, but it doesn't really matter - his warmth, smile and humour draw you in.  Laughter aside, Martin does have a more serious side which is apparent from the beautiful "Home", "Rain", "the Streets of San Sebastian" and "Solomon".  Solomon has particularly fancy fingerwork and I love the arpeggio style guitar playing.

The audience wanted more and during the encore Martin did the upbeat "Colleen" and "Little Red Bottle". 

Martin has many facets and talents and it was a great privilege to have joined him at Olives.

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Author: Dorraine Bennett                           ©2010 Dors Productions