JUDIE TZUKE | LIVE REVIEW
Acapela, Pentyrch, Cardiff, Fri 4 Nov
The Acapela club in Pentyrch proved to be the ideal venue for an evening with Judie Tzuke. The sell-out show was opened by Chaz Thorogood who appeared on stage with no introduction – he could have been the sound check guy – until someone shouted, “Tell us who you are!” Chaz set the tone with some thoroughly good folksy vocals, joined by Judie’s daughter Tallula whose angelic voice was almost lost beneath the trash of his blues guitar.
An intimate setting such as this repurposed church can make or break a show if artist and audience do not connect but Judie had no problem making herself at home. Billed as ‘Songs and Stories’, the mainly over-fifties audience were expecting just that, so being told, two songs in, they could ask her ‘anything they wanted to know’, met with a heavy silence. Judie, accompanied by Tallula and Chaz, chatted through the embarrassing lull and carried on singing.
Tzuke has one of those voices that doesn’t go out of fashion; her songs are timeless but it’s hard to pinpoint the genre – folk, rock, blues, jazz? After covering Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock and John Martyn’s May You Never, the audience were asked once again if they had any questions. This time there was more response and what followed was a conversation about the merits and perils of the music industry. There were diehard fans in the audience, at least two people recounting one of Judie’s gigs back in the 1970s.
There was no denying the warmth in the room for the singer but I wanted less stories and more songs. I wanted Judie to stand up and belt out a classic but, as she admitted later, she was holding back because of the compact venue. The 15 songs in the set were old, new and borrowed from artists that had influenced her career. The evening ended on a high with her two greatest hits – the haunting Stay With Me Till Dawn and a stripped back version of For You. Judie promised to return to Wales in the future and when she does there will be a welcome for her.
words LYNDA NASH