Friday 23rd December
Sheffield legend Joe Carnall Jnr’s Christmas show is as much a part of my own festive routine as falling asleep in my dad’s old comfy chair after eating too many roast potatoes. It’s as Christmassy as my cat trying to knock Santa off our Christmas tree every year. He absolutely hates Santa Claus, that lad. Last year, due to the plague, we couldn’t make Carnall’s Christmas show, and it wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that it left a void that I tried unsuccessfully to fill with pint after pint of real ale. Returning to the Sheffield Academy this year was even more exciting as a result…
The now traditional singalong to The Housemartins seminal classic ‘Caravan of Love’ kicks things off and from our vantage point on the balcony (we’re too old to be down there with ‘the kids’, these days) it’s beautiful to see arms held aloft and beaming smiles. You can smell the Christmas spirit. Smells like cheap cider and Christmas jumpers.
Carnall begins with a few solo acoustic tracks, confirming that Sheffield is in fine voice, with the crowd singing every word to ’17’ and ‘What Was Said on the Landing’ before providing the backing vocals for Milburn favourite ‘Lucy Love Me Not’. Later, Carnall’s now traditional band made up of Ed Cosens (Reverend and the Makers), Adam Crofts (The Crookes, Good Cop Bad Cop) and Louis Carnall (Milburn – or I’m pretty sure he was there, I was a bit worse for wear by this point – ever the professional) break into a lovely rendition of ‘Three Things’ – a track with soft edges perfect for Christmas time. Good Cop Bad Cop calling card ‘Silk & Leather’ is well received before ‘Well Well Well’ threatens to bring the whole house down. Having seen Carnall in some kind of incarnation pretty much every year since I was a teenager, I can’t count the number of times I have seen this song performed live and that irresistible opening line still gives me a thrill.
It’s been quite the year for Rebecca Lucy Taylor what with Self Esteem taking over the globe and she is treated like the returning local hero that she is when taking to the stage to perform a duet of the Donna Summer classic ‘Hot Stuff’. Shout out also to Blossoms bassist Charlie Salt who joins the star-studded lineup at some point in this run of songs. As I said. Bit hazy.
The customary Christmas cover follows, this year Carnall and co. opt for a joyous rendition of ‘I Wish it Could be Christmas Every Day’ before ‘Time Crisis’ fills every corner of the venue with its unforgettable chorus. A rapturously received ‘Cheshire Cat Smile’ segues into the ‘Eye of the Tiger’ riffage of ‘Midnight Control’ before everyone gets up on stage for a touching run-through of ‘A Message to You, Rudi’ in tribute to the sadly departed erstwhile Specials’ frontman, Terry Hall. A fitting eulogy.
The evening is closed out with a beautiful cover of the Smiths’ ‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out’ before Cosens takes on lead vocal duties for a smashing version of the Phillip Oakey classic ‘Together in Electric Dreams’. The evening ends as it started, with Carnall alone on stage belting out Milburn classics. ‘Roll Out the Barrell’ and ‘What You Could’ve Won’ are both part of the Great Sheffield Songbook along with ‘Common People’, ‘A Certain Romance’ and other such Sheff classics. Exalted company. Carnall clearly still loves playing these songs live, and this is what engenders such a salient connection between performer and audience. I have a tradition where I phone my mate (big love, Mike) every time I see JC play ‘What You Could’ve Won’ and it is moments such as this that you can’t manufacture or force. You have to build these connections over time, and by now, Carnall and his band feel like old friends, as I’m sure they do to everyone in attendance. It’s a rare gift.
As the final notes of the final song ring out through the Sheffield Academy, I look around me and see thousands of people all thinking the same thing. Now, it really is Christmas. See you next year.