18-02-2010 Wayne Jackson

Supports: Duncan; Venue: Nachtleben, Frankfurt (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

For a Thursday evening at Nachtleben after carnival this show was well attended. Tonight’s artist was Wayne Jackson, and as warm up he had Duncan Townsend along.

When 13 year old Duncan picked up his Dad’s guitar to write his first song, he never guessed what it would eventually lead to…The oil boom of the Seventies and the independence of the United Arab Emirates in 1971 allowed his parents to work at the new Abu Dhabi University – and Duncan to be born in a small missionary hospital in Al Ain (literally: The Spring) 10 years later, in 1981. Growing up in multinational expatriate community, Duncan developed an international outlook which would influence his songs to come. It was Nottingham, however, that provided the backdrop to his teenage years. Later he moved to Germany. Whilst working in the studio, a drummer he had met there helped him to form a band and he soon started working on ‚the Kiez’ (Hamburg’s red-light district) as a live musician. Duncan’s regular and demanding ‚gigs’ quickly developed his skills as a musician and as a performer, whilst in the process also reaped many exciting characters and experiences…As you can see, Duncan’s background is already outstanding, and so was his performance. It was only him on stage, introducing the songs mostly in German with a sweet British accent, telling a little bit about himself, playing acoustic guitar and singing to it. For a few song he also played piano. Duncan’s voice was strong and powerful yet soft and emotional. A few people in the audience seemed to know the songs and sang along. Definitely everybody at Nachtleben was touched by his performance. Yet was the audience a little to shy to stand right in front of the stage and only after Duncan asked them to come closer, they did. For about 40 minutes he left the audience quite speechless, the cheering was great though. Duncan played songs of his latest album. Wonderful songs telling his story. An amazing opening act, I wish more opening acts were like that.

Up next was Wayne Jackson. Wayne Jackson (born 23 June 1971, Manchester, England) is a singer, producer and songwriter who lives in Berlin. He also plays guitar in Bela B.’s live band Los Helmstedt. Wayne Jackson began his career as the singer and song writer in the UK band The Dostoyevskys, who were signed to Go! Discs. They released several EPs and an album called “Orange”. Together with Paul van Dyk he wrote and released a single entitled The Other Side. He also appeared as a guest vocalist on Paul van Dyk’s 2007 album release In Between on the song Stormy Skies. Together with Olsen Involtini Wayne Jackson produced Bela B.’s 2 solo albums Bingo and Code B. He also produced the Lost In Reverie Album for the German based singer Lula. Together they co-wrote and sang the album track “Come Along” which appeared in the German Film “Vineta” which was released in 2008. Wayne Jackson’s debut solo album titled “The Long Goodbye”, which he produced together with the Swedish producer Michael Ilbert, was released on August 15, 2008. His second album is called “Undercover Psycho” and was released just recently.Wayne was accompanied by a band. With gorgeous songs and great music they put together a wonderful show. The audience again was speechless, and the cheering was loud and intense after each song. Wayne had a wonderful voice, even though he apologized for some raspy sounds which we all didn’t hear. Many people in the audience knew the songs and could sing along. Wayne played guitar as well as piano. The band was amazing and altogether they were a lot of fun to watch and be with. Everybody at Nachtleben felt like a big family. Wayne as well as the rest of the band talked not only with each others but also a lot with the audience. He played songs off both albums. Always good for a joke between the songs we all had a lot to laugh during the show. As encore Wayne came back with a Manchester soccer tricot. Lula also joined the stage to perform one song together with Wayne and one of her own. It was amazingly quiet during each song, nobody seemed to dare talking. It was an amazing performance. Everybody loved it and was blown away totally, by the atmosphere, the wonderful sounds and the great band. I really can’t wait to see them again.

Links:
Duncan Townsend MySpace
Duncan Townsend Official
Wayne Jackson MySpace
Wayne Jackson Official