Arts / Students surpass expectations at superb Mareel showcase
THURSDAY saw the highly anticipated return of the Student Night at Mareel.
After the last one in November set such a high bar, it may sound like a tall order to come even close – and yet, the night’s performers went above and beyond to surpass that bar like it was nothing.
We can’t go any further without mentioning Marie who – on top of performing in two different sets – acted as our compere for the evening, introducing each act before they went on stage.
First to perform were the two musicians on the NC course, myself – Billy – on vocals and Finlay on bass.
I like to think that over the three tracks we did (Heartbeats by José Gonzalez, Waves by Mr Probz and What You Know by Two Door Cinema Club) that Finlay was on point the whole time and we both kicked the night off on a solid footing.
While I’ll admit I made a few noticeable mistakes, I think I did the best I could while I had an absolute blast while on stage – and I think that latter point is what matters most.
Following on from Finlay and I, we had Andy on both piano and vocals with accompaniment from Marie on vocal and acoustic guitar.
Andy had probably the shortest set of the lot (just two songs that I heard), but what I heard was very strong.
He has a timeless and commanding voice that reminds me of Holly Johnson from Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
He did make one or two mistakes (which is completely fine, we’re all human and it happens to the best of us) but he never let it derail his performance, displaying great showmanship and perseverance throughout.
Next was Ella from the HNC course alongside some family and friends performingsome traditional Shetland tunes.
I have about as much knowledge of Shetland folk music as your average loaf of wholemeal bread, but I can appreciate that all of them performed well.
I also noted the significant tempo and atmosphere changes they performed with – from slower waltzes to much faster and peppier tracks, there was a real range and going between them was seamless, never feeling unnatural or forced.
Following Ella, we had Hope from the Skills For Work classes on acoustic guitar andvocals… wow.
Opening with a cover of Chris Isaak’s classic Wicked Game (accompanied by Phoebe on the flute), she immediately captured my attention with her soft yet expressive voice that felt familiar but distinctive at the same time.
It was easily one of, if not the best, covers of Wicked Game I’ve ever heard.
This was followed by an original track called The Calling, the Gabrielle Aplin vibes were flowing like a river at high tide here. I interpreted it as being about falling in love with someone you know is bad for you.
Overall, while every act absolutely killed it, Hope’s set was my favourite of the night and the evening’s biggest surprise for me.
Then – following a brief yet fun introduction from temporary stand-in compere Andy –we had Marie’s set, which consisted entirely of original songs in Shetland dialect.
Her first track – Wilderness – was about addiction and her voice told me all I needed to know about how much this song meant to her.
Her next track was called The Hungry Sea (about how life changes over time) and I’d be lying if it didn’t have a tear or two in my eye and down the front of my shirt.
Marie’s voice is evocative of Carole King to me and brought back memories of my mum playing Tapestry in the car when I was young through the Welsh countryside.
This continued into her last track, called The Calm Between Weathers, which contained a very well-executed tempo slowdown, and the rest of the song sounded sweet but with a dark and slightly foreboding undertone to it.
After Marie was the group SNAAP (I hope I’m spelling that right) from the Skills For Work classes.
This was probably the most instrumentally diverse group with a piano, vocals, acoustic guitar, a flute and even a baritone saxophone thrown in there too!
Their covers of modern classic Riptide by Vance Joy and Gigi Perez’s Sailor Song (one of last autumn’s biggest hits) managed to take two songs I don’t particularly like and made them sound great.
Closing their set, we were treated to a cover of Amy McDonald’s This is The Life; the highlight of this was a flute solo courtesy of Phoebe.
Moving on, we had Mark’s set with him on drums and Rhea on vocals – who wasmeant to have her own set that got cut at the eleventh hour due to a hand injury.
This set had a much different and more distinct feel to anything else we saw,with a bluesier sound that nobody else brought. Starting with a cover of Amy Winehouse’s You Know I’m No Good, the drums and bass felt much stronger than earlier sets but Rhea’s soft, restrained and emotion-filled voice shone through it all.
She has a lovely Irish-ness to her voice that made her sound like a long-lost member of The Corrs or Clannad.
All of the band members performed exceptionally, but Rhea stole the set for me with her captivating voice that also reminded me of Adele and Joss Stone.
Drawing the night to a close, the tradition of keeping the rock act for last was kept alive with Magnus’ band coming on last.
They had the most songs in their set of anyone, with a whopping seven (including covers of tracks by Van Halen, Green Day and two Sublime songs) and really brought a final burst of energy.
However, after being awake since 5:40 in the morning and having to travel back from a trip to Unst, the bass frequencies from their set gave me the lift I needed, rattling right through my chest and legs in a glorious rush of energy.
This was matched by their vocalist’s strong, gravelly voice that excellently captured and projected the music’s energy.
I also got a strong sense of fun from these guys – all of them seemed to be having a blast up there, and I would too if I had a bright pink Hello Kitty guitar in my hands!
After a closing word from Marie the audience began to head off and I finally had a chance to let the past two hours of music sink in.
It was a diverse night with us hearing everything from rock to blues, saxophones to electric guitars, Shetland folk to normal folk and soft vocals to brash ones.
There was a veritable smorgasbord on offer and I, for one, feel honoured to have participated in it and to have experienced it first-hand.
If performances of this calibre are what we’re bringing to the table in April, the Student Showcase in June is a dead cert to be an absolute winner!
Contributed by Billy Smith
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