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Guitar slinging singer/songwriter Newton Faulkner gave Liverpool something to smile about last night as he stopped off in the city for part of his ongoing tour.
A good mix of young and old crammed into Liverpool University Guild to see the Rebuilt By Humans troubadour reel off a set-list that included old hits, covers and brand new material.
Faulkner has a new album on the way in July, but with his EP Sketches only released the day of the gig, he has been touring and trialing the new material to fans who have not heard much of the new stuff.
But this didn’t deter the extremeley friendly and charismatic folk star from orchestrating sing-alongs, Mexican waves and crowd harmonies around the new material, so the fans never felt detached from the music.
The gig was a long one, lasting nearly two hours, but it was far from a drag.
Faulkner has an ease with people and his stories and crowd interaction between songs are almost as much of a highlight as the music itself.
Rousing renditions of Teardrop, I need Something and Dream Catch Me were mixed in with brilliant covers of Stevie Wonder’s Superstitious and Blackstreet’s No Diggity.
The Surrey born musician has now been around long enough to be quoted as an influence for the young up and comers such as Ed Sheeran and Michael Kiwanuka.
But the dreadlocked singer is still miles ahead in terms of creating a bond with the crowd and basically having them eating out of the palm of his string-pickin’ hands.
He looked like he was having a great time and nobody left the gig without a huge smile on their face.