And so the Magnificent Marah continued his tour to spread the word of his new EP Me, Myself and I with a return visit to Gateshead and the Station East, before a home crowd in the Voodoo Rooms. The EP is out on streaming platforms now, so if you haven’t already, go check it out, that’s Carl Marah, for those not paying attention. Oh, it’s magnificent!! A thing of beauty, charm, wistfulness, I could go on. It was released into the ether Friday 5th June, the same day that Mr Marah played Gateshead, but this time with the band, ooo.

I’d pondered on going down, it’s a great pub with a good range of beer and real ciders, and there’s the pie fridge at the end of the bar too. Of course, last time it was a long lazy Sunday afternoon session, okay for getting back up afterwards, I’d maybe have to book a room this time. Could I justify it when I’d be seeing him five days later at the Voodoo Rooms? Well, no harm just checking the train times…. hallelujah, the last train up is much later than it used to be, yay. A nice cheap Lumo train at 11.10, sweet, the return ticket came in at just under twenty five quid!

What a gorgeous afternoon and lucky me, my seat was on the left-hand side of the train so I could enjoy the coast views (they really are something to watch out for if you ever travel up to Edinburgh on the east coast line). Once in Newcastle I had a wander round before crossing over the bridge to Gateshead and the Station East. Again, what a smashing pub, lovely barstaff, a hug from AJ.Potter, the locals are a friendly bunch so plenty of chat, the early evening sun kinda delayed the start of the gig I think (you know when it’s still too warm to realise that time is passing). AJ. Potter kicked things off again with his delightfully honest folkish (his word and I agree) songs. An excellent entree before a main course of Marah!

Anyone that saw clips of Carl the last time he played the Station East may be wondering where the band would fit, that’s a tiny space by the staircase! Aha, go left at the bar and there’s a dark, high arched room (possibly part of an old railway arch?), almost a bit spooky but a good space for gigs, and this was a good gig, indeed. An hour and a half of sheer joy and bliss, good humour with an occasional touch of bittersweet, a warm fuzzy hug of an evening; just how it is watching Carl perform any time, but maxed up with the added band elements; then, of course, five days later in Edinburgh there was keyboards too, oh, my heartses!

For keyboards Carl has called on his old Buccaneering pal, Luke Cunningham, of course he would, the guy’s brilliant; and as it happens, in a band with Gavin Lamont and Simon Toner. Sekoya is a contemporary jazz collective, formed as a project for the three, usually sidemen, to develop their own sound together. A great stroke of fortuosity for Carl to get all three to back him?! To have two of them with him in London and Gateshead was awesome, but all three at the Voodoo Rooms was epic. The shades, the sounds almost like textures you could feel, well, okay, that might just be the effect on me, honestly, it was glorious.

The setlist was the same order but with more songs as time allowed. Cat’s Eyes seems to get longer every time they play it, no bad thing; yeah, I must go to the Inverness gig at the end of July, it’ll be well over fifteen minutes by then, haha. Carl gave the rest of the band a wee break when he played a new song solo on his acoustic guitar, he said new, I’ve heard Day By Day a few times now, but yeah, new. The VR gig also had the brilliant Don’t Wanna Love You No More as the encore, wowzah, what a way to round off the night.

I’ll sign off now as the Moanin’ Bones will have started at Stramash, but I’ll just mention that Carl will be in Glasgow at McChuills on the 8th July, just saying. Toodle pip!