This year seems to be the year for unusual gig locations. Having seen The Courettes play for prisoners in Barlinnie earlier in the year, this time round it was my namesake, Carol Hodge, playing a private house party to which I was fortunate enough to receive an invite, making up for the fact I missed her gig with Ginger Wildheart the night before due to my double (actually triple) booking of gigs and being at The Beat and Bow Wow Wow in Glasgow Barrowland.
First thing to say is kudos to Carol for doing such a thing. She mentioned it herself, playing a gig like this. One where you can see the reactions of everyone in the room, where, with no stage lighting, you can see the whites of everyone’s eyes, and the added factor of being on your own, no other band members to take the focus away from you. It must be more intimidating that playing to packed venues.
Being the consummate professional she is though, all of this was taken in her stride, playing a set of highlights from across her four albums sprinkled with a selection of covers and a good dose of between song banter and interaction, explaining her songs to the uninitiated and opening up about their meanings and inspirations.
In the distant days of my youth (I can almost remember them) my social anxiety meant I dreaded, and more often than not, avoided situations like this, the fear and dread of actually having to make conversation with people over-riding everything else. So when I’m sitting there pouring myself a glass of red wine while Carol was retelling her tale of giving up drink after having used it as a crutch for situations like these in her intro to Bear With Me, it struck a nerve!
The songs she picked for her set were among my favourite songs from her back catalogue, from the likes of You Don’t Dream Enough from debut Hold on to the Flame, right through to a stripped back version of The Price from latest album Vertiginous Drops, taking in the likes of Stop Worrying Baby & Waving not Drowning from Savage Purge and Moan of a Thousand Years & Curtain to Fall from The Crippling Space Between on the way. Having seen The Beat play the still relevant Stand Down Margaret, especially in the light of events surrounding that evil blonde Etonian whose name I can’t even bear to type, the pervious night, Carol treated us to her take on the evilest of Tory leaders on the brilliant The Witch is Dead. When you hear Carol in situations like these, it really hits you just how powerful her evocative emotion packed vocal is, really hitting home with stunning effect, especially when paired with a raw and impactful lyric.
When you add her carefully chosen covers including her personal version of The Offspring’s Smash, Queen’s I Want to Break Free (complete with vocal guitar solo!) and The Show Must Go On from Leo Sayer, and it was a perfect showcase for this most talented of singer songwriters.
Towards the end of her set the level of comfort, added to an element of lubrication, in the room was such that there was a mass singalong to the Three Non Blondes smash hit, What’s Going On?, one of Carol’s inspirations for taking up music aged 8 or 9, making me feel old as I remembered watching the band live in a third full Barrowland Ballroom. As well as that, we provided a variety of “woo oo oo oo’s” to accompany her on 20 Miles Up (I did video it, but I was too close to the phone and you don’t want to hear my out of tune woo oo’s …)
A very different “gig” and a lovely way to spend a few hours on a Saturday night. Thanks to Gordon and Angie for hosting, and to Carol, for, well, just being Carol and being a pretty amazing singer, songwriter, performer and genuinely all round awesome human being.
Following the success of the Bannermans gig with Ginger and Ben, a follow up has been scheduled for July. Get in quick for tickets, the first one sold out almost immediately.