Ben Howard tour review: songs, not performance, prop up sell-out shows at Alexandra Palace

While Ed Sheeran is single-handedly changing live music, Ben Howard's future lies in his lyrical despair and epic musical uplift, says John Aizlewood
Rabbit in headlights: Ben Howard with guitarist Nat Wasson (Picture: Steve Gillett/Livepix)
John Aizlewood1 July 2015

Were it not for Ed Sheeran, London-born, Devon-raised Ben Howard would probably be the pre-eminent singer-songwriter of his generation.

After just two albums, last night marked the first of double Brit-winner Howard’s three Alexandra Palace sell-outs. Meanwhile, after just two albums, quadruple Brit-winner Sheeran has filled Wembley Stadium for three July nights.

Whereas the outgoing Sheeran, 24, plays wholly solo and is single-handedly changing live music, the more introverted Howard, 27, and his five-piece band were a more traditional proposition entirely.

Hindered by his reluctance to engage, and lighting so underwhelming it may have been pedal-powered, Howard had the rabbit-in-headlights air of the over-promoted. But while he may not be the bravest performer, he is a brave artist.

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Mercifully, his songs (plus Sharon Van Etten’s luscious Every Time The Sun Comes Up) made the transition to arena level more effortlessly than their creator. The more expansive Howard was, the more sense he made and the more he took the crowd with him. The Fear, All Is Now Harmed and Time Is Dancing all had whopping, explosive codas that steered him away from the giant bedsit he seemed frustratingly anxious to create.

Not one to look back in languor, you suspect he’d rather not have played anything from his 2011 debut Every Kingdom. Forced by circumstance, he sacrificed the all-out pop of Old Pine and The Wolves as solo acoustic encore efforts and concentrated on last year’s black-hearted I Forget Where We Were.

If the dreary Conrad was the cue for the audience to chatter louder than the band played, they were stunned into awed hush by the pre-encore End Of The Affair, where lyrical despair met epic musical uplift. It’s a heady combination — and surely the one that could unlock Howard’s future.

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