By Ken Ebbens, Flash Radio Presenter
It is always interesting when you go along to a concert for a band’s music to which you knew very little in reality and never really listened to previously. Hence, I found myself at the Lens studio, Portsmouth Guildhall, to see The Phonics, the UK’s premier tribute to the Welsh rock band Stereophonics. I only really knew Have A Nice Day, a perfectly good pop tune, so expected the show to be of a similar ilk
How wrong can you be; The Phonics presented just shy of two hours of driving, high tempo proper rock music, quite heavy at times, by four very good musicians: Darryl Ryan on lead vocals and guitar, quite a bit of a lookalike to Kelly Jones, a welcoming laid back style with the audience, really good vocals although his style of singing wasn’t always clear for me but I do have hearing difficulties with certain ranges, the rest of the audience clearly loved it. Alongside was the rhythm section of Colin Bennett on drums, expertly keeping time for the band but you hardly noticed him at the back, letting his skills flourish, and Steve Ashcroft on bass, prominent in the mix, a tad too much for a few songs earlier on, but laying the foundation for Kevin McGuire, as good a lead guitarist as I have seen, some fantastic breaks, really laying down some classic rock riffs
As for the music, I can see why almost all the large sized audience were lapping up the music although, for me, a lot of the vocals sounded similar to Oasis, one song, Graffiti on the Train, a Pink Floydish guitar break but this is not a criticism, far from it, just reflecting my own musical preferences
The band clearly enjoyed themselves on stage and playing for the audience. “Thank you for choosing us over Chris Moyles”, who was in the main auditorium at the same time, was a nice comment (no competition for me). Darryl also mentioned when he became interested in the Stereophonics since 1997 (Hillsborough concert) via A Thousand Trees but also how Steve mistakenly booked a hotel for the previous night’s show at Hastings in Portsmouth, a day ahead, a lovely anecdote
Highlights for me included Vegas Two Times, Superman, Bust This Town, Indian Summer, More Life in a Tramps Vest, and then closing songs Handbags and Gladrags (my highlight overall, an excellent version), Bartender and the Thief, C’est La Vie and Dakota
It was very loud (kudos to tech, Joseph), the lighting minimal but better for that, but I will now check out the music as I really liked what I heard
If you get the chance, see them next time they return to the Guildhall. Really enjoyable; would I go again? Yes, as I will know the songs a bit better by then and balanced my hearing support