Thea Gilmore

Telfords Warehouse, Chester, 23/7/08.

Yay! Telfords plays host again to the lovely Thea Gilmore. Last time she was here was not long after the birth of her first child and she seemed a bit nervous and uptight, though it didn't affect her performance as such. I just hoped she'd be a little less 'formal' this time. Chester is her local gig these days as she resides in Nantwich about 15 or so mile away, the posh part of the Crewe conurbation in reality!! sorry to any Creweonions, or Creweoners or, hey I like that last one we'll stick with that.

When I got to Telfords about five to seven they were just opening the doors. Last time here they had put seating in which I've never known before and hoped they weren't going to do it this time. Damn! seating, though this works to my advantage really as I just occupy the right channel left open for people to move in and out and basically stand at the front by myself.

When I walked in and got a drink the sound guy at the mix desk was just putting on a cd. Turned out to be the Fleet Foxes album, on the opening notes I said to him "Ah Fleet Foxes, saw them at the Roadhouse in Manchester last week" We had a quick discussion about them but he queried that they had played the Night & Day as some friends of his were there. I told him no definitely the Roadhouse. In retrospect I think he was trying to catch me out here, why I don't know. He then told me that they had nearly booked FF to play here but before they could fit them in they went stratospheric, well got noticed, a bit, well a little bit. They missed out on them though, I keep thinking how good it would have been to see FF here in Chester.

The support was an acoustic singer songwriter called Pete Du Pom, I think that's how you spell it. He was ok, nothing particularly new but sang his songs with a heart and tried to interact with the audience a fair bit.

When Thea came on she was dressed less formal than last time here. Jeans and a red T-shirt and black jacket. Her T-shirt had the slogan 'Ethics Girl' on which I thought quite amusing, she is from Essex originally. Later I told her I liked her T-shirt. She seemed more relaxed than last time too and looking good it has to be said.
She opened the set with 'Old Soul' the first track off the new album, somehow I new she'd start with that song, don't know why. She then played one of my fave Thea songs in 'Seen it all before' (see video). During a retuning between songs she said she could see alot of faces from Crewe/Nantwich. She then said "where we have just had a by-election, --- which was shit". I clapped and said "too right". It was then noticeable that no one else in the audience reacted to this. This made me angry at first and looking at the crowd it was noticeable I was one of the younger members! I then found it funny, forever the outsider. Just you and I then Thea!

She also had an extra member with her tonight too, as well as Nigel Stonier (husband, producer and general sidekick) was a young girl who played violin, cello and guitar called Fluff. She was an excellent musician too and carried out her duties with great professionalism. She also added vocal support.

She ended her set with 'This girl is taking bets' and 'Are you ready' which she always gets the audience to sing the chorus.


For the encore she asked if any af the crowd wanted to come up on stage and sing along. I must admit I had half a thought of joining her, but when the time came I bottled it and just videoed the event. About 10/12 people joined in and it made for an interesting climax to the show.

After the gig I had a nice chat with Thea and told her she seemed more relaxed this time round. I got her to sign her album cover and setlist too. This is the best I've seen her, even better than the Nottingham show last year.