I saw Penguin Cafe for the first time last September when I was so impressed that I made a mental note to watch out for their return. Just over a year later and here they are again, this time with an extra member of the band who began by playing balafon, an African version of the xylophone, but progressed to harmonium, violin and guitar. A right clever Dick if ever there was one. On looking back at their videos on YouTube it seems that the number of members varies so I shouldn’t have been surprised.
I won’t go over old ground by telling you about the name and history of the band, should you wish to find out more – and I believe that you should – then please go to https://www.penguincafe.com/more where you will also find details of the remaining dates in this tour. or even read my previous review at https://tyke-it-to-the-limit.com/2022/09/17/penguin-cafe-at-howard-assembly-room/ If you do the latter you will be pleased to find that there was no abrupt ending due to an errant fire alarm this time, and we got the full programme plus encore.
The performance was split into two distinct halves; the first was devoted to tracks from the band’s new album Rain Before Seven, all written by the leader, Arthur Jeffes, the second half was a selection of tunes by his late father, Simon, founder of Penguin Cafe Orchestra, which renamed itself after his untimely demise.
I was pleased that Mr Jeffes introduced all of the pieces with an explanation or some witty comment, as there is nothing more irritating than hearing a tune that you like but not being able to identify it later.
All of the works in the concert were instrumentals which means that the titles don’t really need to have any relevance to the music, although most do refer to the basic premise. Some, though, are named just for fun, such as Lamborghini 754 which is the name and model number of a tractor! For those of you who are not aware, the luxury sports car manufacturer began life as a tractor maker but legend has it that when Enzo Ferrari used the term as an insult to Ferruccio Lamborghini, he said that he would make a car better than Ferarri’s. He didn’t do a bad job. The tune is played at a tractor’s pace but is as sophisticated as the motor car.
Other intriguing titles were In The Back of a Taxi, Telephone and Rubber Band, which has a really irritating phone tone but it soon becomes part of the music, Goldfinch Yodel and The Sound of Someone You Love Going Away And It Doesn’t Matter.
You might like this video from the new album, it is called In Re Budd – I have no idea!
The performance on Friday was in civilian clothes but there was an appearance from three of the penguins straight after the interval which brought a cheer from the sold out auditorium.
The euphoria continued right to the end and so the band came back to give us a bonus of three more tracks which were more upbeat than the main set had been so there was lots of seat dancing going on. Especially in the one which I occupied.
The tour goes on until the end of the month and I would highly recommend you try and get to one of the venues.
For details of events coming up at Howard Assembly Room please go to https://www.operanorth.co.uk/event-tag/har/
Feature image provided by Opera North, all photographs by Stan Graham
Tyke It To The Limit 