Ford introduced every song including the next one which is more than topical at the moment. ‘Surfin’ Guantanamo Bay’ is a country-rock song which I suspect is designed for his fortcoming USA audience. It’s brilliant and his audience has warmed quickly to his expressive delivery and ability to connect easily with them. Then arrives a moving love song dominated by keyboard notes and driven by a superb melody. He explained that the song was inspired by a TV interview he saw which featured the mother of a son killed during the Northern Ireland troubles. ‘Stephen’ is a lovely, contemplative narrative with Ford’s standard set of intelligent and moving lyrics.

Ford’s performance is punctuated by Hannah Peel’s contributions on keyboards, violin, trombone, music box mandolin and backing vocals - one multi-talented individual! There’s a song about Margaret Thatcher, a song written during a lonely three-day stay in a Missouri motel and my highlight of the album, an incendiery and cautionary tale about where we’re all heading called ‘Hurricane.’ When he had finished performing the album he asked for song suggestions to which I demanded ‘Requiem’, one of the finest songs I have ever heard. He duly delivered the masterpiece with created sound loops and a rare passion. It made my night.

A couple more older favourites including the barbed ‘State Of The Union’ and it was over.This was a stunning performance that will remain in the memory of those that witnessed it for years to come. Ford is a very special, distinctive talent and it amazes me that he isn’t at least as popular as other successful singer/songwriters over here, most of which don’t come close to his level of talent and integrity. But the impresion gained is that Ford’s main interest is in communicating his thoughts, observations and views to anybody who is prepared to listen. He deserves to be heard and is one inspirational artist.

Set List

Panic, Making Up For Lost Time, Waiting For The Storm, Surfin’ Guantanamo Bay, To Hell With The World, Stephen, Nothing At All, Sylvia, Meet Me In The Middle, She’s Not The One, Hurricane, Call To Arms, Requiem, State Of The Union, I Don’t Care What You Call Me.