Ben Ottewell, the singer from Gomez, took to the stage at The Joiners as part of his strippeddown solo tour.

Without his Mercury Music Award-winning bandmates, Ben’s unmistakable gravelly baritone voice was more than sufficient to warm the small venue and the surrounding dark streets of Southampton.

His new acoustic tunes such as Rattlebags and Starlings had the reminiscent feel of his rumbling classics. Ottewell’s Blackbird easily stood up against The Beatles’ song with the same name and I’m sure even McCartney would have been happy to put his name to this new version.

To please the crowd, classic songs such as Tijuana Lady were sung to a great reception, and in keeping with the bird tune theme, he introduced Gomez favourite Get Miles jokingly as Great Big Pigeon.

The evening proved the only audible great warblings were coming from Ben’s out-of-thisworld voice.

It’s no surprise one audience member heckled how jealous his brother would be that he was lucky enough to see the singer at the intimate Joiners.

He certainly wasn’t the only one who felt grateful to witness this unique solo show.

Words and Photo: graham@reviews4good.com

Printed and Published in Daily Echo: Link to Daily Echo review