Matt Berry @ The Kazimer review

Entering on stage with a full entourage of musicians (The Maypoles), Matt Berry meant business. Going straight into Devil Inside me, Matt was a man on a mission.People obviously think of him as "that guy from the I.T. crowd but watching him onstage that image soon fell away as his voice, which seemed a lot richer than the last time we saw him, took over the Kazimier. 

Going into the title track of his album Opium and through tracks from the WitchHazel album he was certainly not one for a lack of material. Starting with a low, pagen-esque style then throwing the audience into a full on tour de force Matt was beginning to get thirsty and on the search for some Corona. When offered a can of Red Stripe but an audience member he politely refused saying that "it was full of salt"

Once locating the much sought after mystical Corona (it was in a box behind the guitarist) Matt went into Snuff Box. A track that was featured in the movie DREDD and as Matt stated "god knows why" but it kept the crowd happy anyway.

A brief interlude was much needed and Matt served up a cocktail of TV theme tunes starting with Are you being served and then into Sorry with a wonderful touch of the lift commentary to accompany the former...going down!

Then the audience were taken on a bit if a journey.....starting with a gentle flowing notes and what you would expect to hear from an enchanted forest it built up slowly with symbols crashing and the bass drum kicking in to an instrumental medley that kept building and building in intensity till Matt and Cecilia's gentle vocals came back in then ended on a symbol crescendo.

They ended the set, after their encore, by being joined on stage by the lead singer of their support group Pugwash, Thomas Walsh, and decided to bring the house down with a rip roaring performance of Live and let die by wings.

Matt Berry may be known best for his comedy but musically the man and the group and superb. Moving from funk to jazz in a beat of an eye and some of the tightest and most talented musicians I've seen in a long time and mesmerising to watch and thoroughly entertaining throughout.

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Matt Berry at The Kazimier, Liverpool

Matt Berry

With support from:
Pugwash

Ticket price: £14.00
Buy Tickets from Ticketwerk

Doors open at 7.30pm
Venue and Locality: The Kazimier, Liverpool
Postcode: L1 4JJ

Musical polymath MATT BERRY returns to the road with his band THE MAYPOLES to launch his brand new musical masterpiece KILL THE WOLF this spring. Following on from last year's critically acclaimed progressive folk opus, WITCHAZEL, his most recent album sees BERRY exploring the darker side of agrarian folk and searching farther afield for his cultural references.

Matt Berry is of course also an actor and writer of award winning comedy, but places his music high up on a pedestal. Expect songs from his early career (including the 'theme from Snuffbox'), a host of familiar Witchazel classics and select slices of the new album. Matt has been known to throw in an unusual cover from time to time (the last being Ordinary Joe in tribute to the late Terry Callier, who passed away the day before Matt's last show). This in not a comedy show but an uplifting musical experience.

In the words of the Guardian, taken from their extraordinarily enthusiastic Witchazel review:

"MATT BERRY, Brilliant - yes. Funny - no!!!"

Matt Berry @ The Masque Theatre Liverpool

Fans of the IT Crowd, Dark Places and of the man himself gathered in the Masque Theatre to witness a one off unique event. Matt Berry had come to woo them with his silky vocal talents and his unique brand of musical entertainment, and he didn’t disappoint. Entering on stage like Elvis Presley after a 3 minute build u, holding onto a Jack Daniels bottle which was almost as big as him, Matt went straight into the first number. That all too familiar voice bellowing out over the musicians.

With such classics as snuff box and Witchcraft the crowd lapped up both the humorous lyrics and Matt’s laid back attitude. In between songs the banter between him and the crowd was almost as if it was scripted and as soon as “One Track Lover” was played the obvious Garth Merenghi fans applauded and sang along.

The musicians themselves were faultless. The guitar player in particular was something to behold. Looking like Rodney Trotter with a curly wig on, he played like a man possessed by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix. The music itself varied from “reggae” to out and out funk-a-delic that would make George Clinton and Prince happy men. The Musicians were tight and played to Matt’s outlandish behaviour.

The encore itself was truly a masterpiece of invention. Singing “Jesus Christ Superstar” Matt left no doubt to his pre-conceived notions of himself and to be honest they were well deserved.

My only complaint to the whole night was the lack lustre crowd that had turned up to see Matt Berry. I think even at times during the end Matt seemed to be getting tired of trying to get some sort of interaction with the majority of the crowd and quite rightly so. But apart from that, this was a tremendous gig. Full of enthusiasm, humour and barrel loads of laughs. This has to be seen to be believed and as Matt Berry himself says...”Liverpool...you’re clever.....I LIKE THAT”

November Listings for The Masque Liverpool

The Listings for gigs/acts in November 2010. To book tickets for any of the gigs then please go to the following websites

http://www.seetickets.com/
http://www.ticketline.co.uk/
http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/
http://www.skiddle.com/