| Vox Night | Past Vox Nights |
Review by Helen Luckman
This month saw the first anniversary of Vox nights at the Riverside with a fantastic line up of local artists. First up was accordion player Michael Nares, today joined by Duncan McIntyre on soprano sax. With a mixture of jazz and traditional folk they set an atmospheric mood for the start of the evening.
The spoken word tonight was a real treat, with performances from James Lock, Matt McAteer, Matt Black and Stan Skinny. James’ contemplative poems silenced a busy pub, touching on vastness, theories of modern life and Abraxas, god of both good and evil; while Matt Black’s exuberant and entertaining performance taught us about the Crookesmoor cannibals, a day in the life of a snail and our inner animal.
Matt McAteer’s coarse yet complex poems, including new ones ‘Mother’s helper’ and ‘The somnambulist’, remind me very much of Johnny Clarke (him of ‘Kung Fu International’). Matt will be performing at the Edinburgh Fringe this August, so look out for his name if you’re heading that way.
Part poet, part stand-up, Stan Skinny was like no other spoken word performer we’ve seen at Vox before. Without giving too much away to the uninitiated his cleverly observed poems were interspersed with baby throwing, Dad jokes and minor chocolate theft. Great stuff.
More laughter was provided by Vox’s own comedy improvisational troupe Monkey Butler. With prompts and suggestions from other members of the group and the audience they created many an hilarious and often surreal scene using little more than themselves and their imaginations.
Music for the rest of the evening was provided by Andrew Duxfield and Louis Romégoux. Performing together at Peace in the Park later this month they’re sure to go down a storm, as individually they’re both masters of what they do.
Andrew’s opener ’1952 Vincent Black Lightning’ showed off his signature style of impressive dexterity coupled with charm and sincerity of voice, and was followed by a delicious mixture of original and covered blues and folk tunes.
Louis finished the night off in grand style, his soaring voice arguably the best in Sheffield. That he is soon leaving for Austria is a huge loss for the Sheffield music scene. Be sure not to miss his last ever Sheffield gig on Friday 30th July at the Rude Shipyard.
With such a range of performances and some photography displayed by Laura Francis, this was a great celebration of all that is good about the Sheffield art scene.
