Last weekend I caught the last gig of Cory Wells’ UK/EU tour in Manchester and it was a total sobfest…in a good way though. I could just leave it there, but it wouldn’t be much of a review now, would it? If you’re familiar with Cory’s music, I’m sure you’ll know what I mean.
The intimate gig was nestled in the upstairs of Gullivers pub in the Northern Quarter – you can never beat gigs like that! Cory performed with his best friend Chase Parsons, who apparently didn’t know he was coming on the tour until two weeks before and had to quit his job, although I’m not sure whether that part is true! Fair play to the guy for learning all of Cory’s songs in such a small space of time though.
One thing that really struck a chord with me (pun intended) during Cory’s set was that he said his songs were ours and they have a different meaning to each of us – his reason for not telling us the stories behind them. That’s something I’ve never thought too much about before, but it’s like Dave Grohl once said, “You can sing a song to 85,000 people and they will sing it back for 85,000 different reasons.”
Cory Wells with Chase Parsons.
Cory serenaded us with songs from his album, The Way We Are including: ‘Keiko’, ‘Harbor’, ‘Distant’, ‘End of a Good Thing’ and ‘Wildfire’ and his set was perfect. He’s a great musician and his vocals are unforgettable. You can definitely hear his extensive metal background in his voice, and it blends so well with his acoustic guitar. The notes he hits are seriously goose bump-inducing and it was clear in the crowd that his songs mean a lot to people. There weren’t many dry eyes, including mine.
Support came from the talented Luke Rainsford, an acoustic emo artist, hailing from Birmingham. If you’re a fan of Cory Wells, I highly recommend you check him out. Luke played songs from his album, I Feel at Home with You, including a couple of favourites of mine, ‘I’m Bored of Being Heartbroken’ and ‘Frame’. We were also treated to a performance of his new single, ‘In Spite of All My Worry’ which he recently released at the beginning of January. Luke is heading out on an exciting UK tour in May with Aaron West + The Roaring Twenties, along with The Winter Passing.
You can check out Cory Wells’ music video for ‘End of a Good Thing’ here:
Want to check out Luke Rainsford? You can listen to his new single here:
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