LIVE REVIEW : RON SEXSMITH AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL 07/03/2013

I first Ron Sexsmith in 2008 in a really small venue called "La Maroquinerie" (he seems to be playing there every time in Paris). At the time he was touring his "Exit Strategy of Soul" album and due to lack of funds he was touring in a 3 piece format without a drummer. The gig was good but you couldn't help feeling that he seemed to look a bit flustered by his lack of commercial success. Fast forward four years and here I am in the Royal Albert Hall to see the last night of the UK tour that has seen Sexsmith promote his latest release "Forever Endeavour". That show was first advertised almost one year ago but without the rising record sales that Sexsmith enjoyed with his previous effort "Long Player, Late Bloomer" he never would have been able to dream of playing in such a place.

There were quite a few empty seats at the top level of the Arena but the venue was more full than what I expected it to be. This time Sexsmith was playing with a full band (with long-time drummer Don Kerr present contrary to the Paris show in 2008). Set list relied heavily on material from "Forever Endeavour" and "Long Player, Late Bloomer" (half of the almost thirty songs came from these two records). Particular highlights were an extended version of "Snake Road" with nice guitar work from Sexsmith and "Believe it when I see it" (my favourite song on LPLB). We got a sprinkling of songs from the back catalogue which included the usual staples "Secret Heart", "Strawberry Blonde" and "Whatever it takes" (covered recently by Michael Bubble which brought a few welcomed pennies to our friend Ron). It was nice to hear "Lemonade Stand" off the "Destination Unknown" collaborative LP that Sexsmith put out in 2005 with drummer Don Kerr, a good song that brought a much needed up-tempo rhythm to an set list rather heavily reliant on ballads.

I'm a big fan of the "Time Being" and "Whereabouts" albums so I was a bit disappointed that only one song from these 2 records was aired that night ("Not about to loose"). Apart from these couple of minor gripes the gig was really good with immaculate musicianship from the band and nice interaction between Sexsmith and the audience (one reviewer said that he answered every heckle from the crowd which is not far from the truth).