CityLife

Newton Faulkner

Newton Faulkner
Manchester Apollo
March 15, 2010

Newton Faulkner tends to treat his audience to an appetising female acoustic support artist and tonight it's the alluring Charlotte O’Connor.

The Blackburn-born beauty's quirky and honest song introductions, in a very broad but familiar northern accent, wins the hearts of the crowd.

With a powerful voice that carries well across the Apollo's hollows, teamed with some kooky dance moves, Charlotte succeeds in injecting glamour into her folkish repertoire.

She should go far.

Then it's time for a shoeless Mr Faulkner to bounce on stage and kick things off with Badman, opening track from his second album, Rebuilt By Humans.

It's followed by familiar favourite To the Light, opening track on debut album, Hand Built By Robots, which allows Faulkner an early opportunity to demonstrate his complex guitar playing style.

By the time he plays I Need Something, we can see close-up shots of his guitar tapping and finger picking on large screens behind him.

Well known for his acoustic covers – requests fly in for the theme to SpongeBob Square pants – Faulkner teases us with brief samples of Spin Me Right Round and No Diggity, before delivering a haunting version of Massive Attacks’ Teardrop.

A sing-along style She’s Got The Time (first album) and She’s Got The Time part two (second album) continue the journey through his musical career.

Whereas the material from Hand Built By Robots was inspired by his dreams and aspirations, Rebuilt By Humans shows us how far he has come.

There’s an awful lot of Newton love in the Apollo tonight.

A cover of Bohemian Rhapsody during his encore (or not, as Newton’s theory is that it is more surprising if he stays on stage during an encore) results in a standing ovation.