David Ford - Leeds Uni Live Review

David Ford
Leeds Uni
3/11/05

Once in a while you go and watch a gig and it really makes you gasp with delight. This happened to me last night. The performer was David Ford; he has been supporting Starsailor on tour. The only previous knowledge I had of Mr. Ford was a video I watched for 'State Of The Union', this was enough to convince me to go to a gig. Even though I had prior commitments I made my way to Leeds University. Along with his band David took to the stage in a really quite manor, sat down in front of a projection monitor with a harmonica and a guitar and started singing his heart and soul out (well, if we wasn't he's a very good actor) with every clear note that escaped his mouth he sang with such immense power and feeling, and with each & every breath in and out that escaped through the harmonica I almost felt that he took me to the place where he was at the when wrote the songs.

Now, comparisons are bound to be made to the likes of Damien Rice. It is true that they both feature a female vocalist and write acoustic guitar based songs. The difference is, Damien Rice could be classified as slightly whimsical, David Ford on the other hand just does it better. the only slight criticism I could hand out for tonight's performance would be that I don't think David needs to use a backing vocalist as often as he does, his singer did have an lovely voice, the music suited her voice and couldn't be faulted in anyway but she didn't need to sing in as many songs as she did. The highlight of the set had to be 'state of the union'. The band took to the back of the stage and started painting on the projection screen whilst David sat down once again with his guitar. And with a couple of flicks of a foot pedal he had created the first layer of the song each and every instrument from the keyboard, tambourine or the simple taping of his guitar base develops, by the end into a huge wall of sound.