Andy White- Wesley Anne

Andy White has just returned from an overseas tour of Italy, the UK, Ireland and Canada, so he was fighting fit for his live set at the Wesley Anne in Northcote tonight. This was actually my first time in the venue, and the bandroom is a great space (and they serve food in there). I came in towards the end of folk singer Alison Thom's set, catching the last few songs. Fran joined me and it was good to be able to catch up with her.

Andy started his set solo by playing "James Joyce's Grave" before inviting members of his band The Antipoets onto the stage. Most of the songs in the set were off his recent album How Things Are, with highlights including "Drifting," "Band Of Gold," "Jessica Says," "Everyone's In Love," and "Lennon." We were also treated to the older tracks "Italian Girls on Mopeds," "Vision Of You," "If You Want It" and the set closer "Jacqui." Andy seemed to enjoy himself throughout the night and sounded great. I'd really like to catch him doing a whole set solo just on acoustic guitar.

Andy White- How Things Are Album Launch

Last night I headed to The Toff in Town to see Belfast singer-songwriter Andy White launch his new album How Things Are.  I first became familiar with Andy through his involvement in ALT in the mid-1990s, and it's been years since I last saw him play.  It was great to run into so many friends at this show- Fran, Peter, Mark and Rosemaree.  The opening act was a member of Andy's band, Alison Thom, who played a lovely set on acoustic guitar.

Album launches are great because you often get the opportunity to hear the complete album played live, which is what happened in the first half of Andy's set.  Jointed by the Antipoet Orchestra (which included his son Sebastian on drums), Andy played nearly all the album track by track.  Many of the songs focus on the break up of his 19 year marriage, and some of the tracks were just heartbreaking, especially "Band Of Gold," "All It Does Is Rain" and "Closest Thing To Heaven."

After a brief intermission Andy came back on stage for the second half of the set, which was a mix of tracks from throughout his career.  He played "Religious Persuasion" and "Promises Broken" solo, which I really enjoyed as they were the most folky protest songs of the night.  He finished the set with the one album track he didn't play in the first half, "Lennon," and then did "Jacqui" for an encore.

Here's a video introduction by Andy to the album: