Going into Ben Howard’s set on the 8th of December, I had high expectations. I had seen videos of his performances before. The emotion and drama created from his performance of End of the Affair at Jools Holland, the intimate and thoughtfulness he portrayed at his NPR Tiny Desk, were both things I expected to see from the artist. However, I left Ben Howard’s show at Brudenell Social Club with slight disappointment. Sure, the music was good, but the whole atmosphere of the gig was very strange and not something I would want to experience again.
As an album release gig, Howard performed most of the songs off his new album Collections from the Whiteout. The album, released at the end of March 2021, is the fourth studio album for Ben Howard and shows his exploration of a new sound that we haven’t seen from him before. Mixing a Neo-Soul style with elements of Jazz and topping that with lyrics inspired by historical fiction, Howard creates fourteen tracks that are musically intelligent and lyrically peculiar. As previously stated, the gig was meant to be part of the album release tour, but the circumstances of the past couple of years meant that it was postponed… and then postponed again to make room for Howard’s main tour. All this waiting acted to increase excitement and anticipation for the gig, a notion solidified by the long queues and excited babble ensuing before the start of the set.
The set started off strongly with Howard walking on stage to a great reception from the crowd. Without an opening act, the general atmosphere of the crowd was one of excitement and anticipation for Howard. The first song of the performance, Rumble Strip, set a strong start for Howard. As a song only available on the deluxe album, it wasn’t widely known. This left the floor open for Howard to create a beautifully intimate and contemplative atmosphere for the song. The limited textures used gave the vocals a chance to soar with emotion and sensuality.
The set continued with songs such as What a Day and Finders Keepers. The former being the first single of the album. It was here that an air of restlessness settled over some audience members who then began to shout out and heckle Howard, something that was obviously putting him off.
The highlight of the set for me came with the performance of my favourite song, Rookery, the studio version of a previously untitled track Howard played in many shows from his previous tour. This song gave the set an immediate intimacy that had been previously lost to heckling and jibes from the audience.
As the gig went on, the atmosphere grew strange. With an audience who were not listening, and an artist thrown off his game, the event began to fall further into unease. It was clear the atmosphere was taking a toll on Howard who had to stop halfway through one song before he could continue with his set. The saving grace of the set came with the crowd favourites I Forgot Where We Were and Conrad. Both songs taken from his 2014 album I Forgot Where We Were, suggesting the audience restlessness came with a want for Howard to play his older tracks rather than his newer songs.
Although musically the set was phenomenal with intricate guitar parts, beautiful vocals and meaningful lyrics, the event couldn’t escape the strange atmosphere, and this is what left me wanting more.