REVIEW

Gaz Brookfield

Bridport Arts Centre

WITH three studio albums (and the forth due for release later this month), not to mention various live and a rarities releases, Bristol based Gaz Brookfield should be a south-west hero.

Add to that several years on the road, with over a thousand gigs, festival favourite Gaz is loved by an ever growing band of those ‘in-the-know’.

Playing – or assaulting - his acoustic guitar with energy, and ably supported by local Ben Wain on violin, Gaz had to call on all his experience at the Bridport Arts Centre on Saturday.

As he pointed out at one stage, he rarely plays to a seated audience, and at first struggled to get a response.

As the evening progressed his cheerful personality and enthusiasm rubbed off until, by the end he received a well-deserved standing ovation.

The music, of course, is everything. Gaz plays a brand of folk/rock and sings about his everyday life, from his troubles gigging in an unreliable van, a ferry trip, being bullied at school to buying furniture for his new house.

In the background, Ben's fiddle work helps keep the music a long way above the standard singer-songwriter fayre.

I am a fan, and have been for some years, but Gaz’s ability to win over a reticent audience has helped me see just how good a performer he is.

If you missed this, I urge you to get along to The Jurassic Fields Festival in Bridport on July 11, when he is next in the area.

NEIL HARVEY