Last night, me and half of France [ok I am prone to bouts of exaggeration but there were a lot of them] went to see Charlie Winston perform at the Village. Apparently, this is not an unusual occurrance according to a review of the UK launch the French like to travel. He was due to play here before Christmas but he had to cancel at the last minute due to a neck injury but I’m glad he rescheduled and judging by the way he bounced around the stage, looks like he’s feeling much better. There were two support acts – firstly Emily Jane White from North America followed by Max Greenwood. The French were most definitely there to see Charlie having made the journey and chatted away noisely through Emily Jane’s and Max’s performance. This was evident when Charlie came on stage to announce Max and the camera’s started madly flashing away so much so that Charlie had to ask them to go easy. Luckily, we had a great view from the balcony thanks to Special A so we were looking down on the throngs of adoring French fans.

Charlie has great charisma on stage and is a real showman. He sounds exactly like his brother, Tom Baxter, when he speaks but musically they couldn’t be more different with Charlie’s songs more upbeat and quirkier with a more external focus. He has a quirky style all his own with his now trademark hat and his MC Hammer pants. He opened with ‘Gone Gone’, just Charlie alone on stage with the audience eating out of the palm of his hand and following his every demand even to the point of shouting out his name when he asked to ‘Say My Name’. He took the time between songs to interact with the audience and share stories as part of this sharing we learnt that he was suffering from a cold and set off the hotel alarm that morning by steaming up his shower! The band then took to the stage for “I’m a Man” which Charlie reminded us appeared in an advertisement featuring a dog miming those words but tonight he was the man. He has a great band behind him especially Ben aka Mr. Smiley beside him who looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself and the two French guys, Medi the drummer and Daniel on bass. Charlie danced around the stage like he was auditioning for ‘So you think you can Dance’. Some of his songs are rather political like ‘In Your Hands’ and ‘Generation Spent’ but you never feel like he is forcing opinions down your throat.

The French seemed to especially like ‘Like a Hobo’ and ‘My Life as a Duck’. At times he left centre stage to play the piano for the slower songs but at no time did he lose his power over the audience. He also played an acoustic version of a song about Rejection that was filled with emotion before speeding things up again. I especially enjoyed the beat-boxing and climbing on the speakers – the man sure knows how to excite an audience but then again I always felt he came to the stage with the need to entertain even when he played Bass for his brother a few years before. The gig finished off with Charlie playing his latest single ‘I Love Your Smile’ before getting to his feet and urging the crowd to throw their hands in the air to a shortened version of ‘In Your Hands’. The band were showcased at the end when Charlie left the stage and they continued on much to the audience’s delight. He’s in Cork tonight before heading to Canada to gather more people to add to his French army.