Nothing Beats Live Music

Image Credit : Jaco Marais / Netwerk 24

Yesteryear was lucky enough to see David Gray play in Cape Town last week.

On the back of top notch shows from The Waterboys and The Lumineers, it reminded us that nothing beats live music, when it is played this well.

Gray was the ultimate professional as he rotated between a number of acoustic guitars and his Roland keyboard, bringing to life a strong, but often under-rated back-catalogue, that peaked with a rousing rendition of the 'The One I Love'.

The second half of his show was dedicated to his 1998 breakthrough album 'White Ladder', a creative peak in a recording career that has spanned almost 30 years. 'Babylon', an obvious crowd-pleaser.

When Gray came back on for the customary encore, Soft Cell's 'Tainted Love' and two Bowie covers, were perhaps not what most expected, but fitting closure given his English background and a completely random connection to the Thin White Duke from the Glastonbury Festival circa 2000, a tale he recounted with humour to wind things up.

The only thing we would have liked to hear more of, is perhaps a bit more banter along the way. The rest was sublime. Hats off Mr Gray.

Coming up in the New Year... Sting, Gregory Porter and the Counting Crows ... things are looking up folks :-)

Cheers from Yesteryear :-)