The Beat Surrender

Micah P Hinson is a guy i’ve wanted to see live for ages, I absolutely adored his debut album Micah P Hinson And The Gospel Of Progress, it had repeated plays on my stereo, was loaned out to friends to try and convert them and would have been one of the contenders for album of the year for me.

I’ve missed him live a few times though and have even missed him at this very venue, so when it was announced that he was returning to the Holy Trinity Church to play this date as part of his UK tour, I immediately got my request in to cover the gig.

It was too good an opportunity to miss even if it did come the day after a very heavy session for the Leeds v Bradford game the night before, I love seeing people in new venues, I love it even more if there is something unusual about the venue and I think it’s fair to say that when you think of great rock ‘n’ roll venues then Churches don’t feature too high up the list.

I wasn’t altogether sure if it would be a functioning churcg or if it would be an old church converted into a gig venue. It turns out that it’s the former, which while making for a quaint setting and decent acoustics, does fall down in some ways for me.

The atmosphere is strangely subdued that I can only put down to the setting, it’s a kind of reverential and respectful round of applause between songs, almost as if the setting is overtaking the gig. Micah P himself does try and curtail his swearing, he fails after about the first five minutes, but the fact that he’s trying tells you everything. The other downside is that the big pillars in the church make it tricky viewing if you aren’t in the central area and the seating which is old wooden benches soon lose their appeal after about ten minutes of uncomfortable shuffling to try and get some life back into your arse!

Despite all this and in some ways because of it, the music when it arrives is a welcome relief, the support band don’t bother telling us who they are, which is a shame as the first few tracks they play are decent, it’s not these that people are here to see though it’s Hinson, accompanied by his wife and one other talented musician.

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