Ryan's Gig Guide - October 2018

Friday 12th October Claptrap, Stourbridge  rgg Oct 2018 9 www.ryansgigguide.com Remembered mainly for The IcicleWorks and their top 20 “smash” (they called them that in those days) “Love Is AWon- derful Colour”, main man Ian McNabb has been a solo artist for some 25 years. Debut album ‘Truth And Beauty’ was re- leased in 1993 and Ian has released over a dozen stylistically shifting albums since then, culminating this year with the re- cent album ‘Our Future In Space’ on which he is backed by fellow Liver- pudlians ‘Cold Shoulder’. Though The IcicleWorks often confused their audience with a mix of psyche/Byrdsian jangle, funk grooves and straight down the line ‘rock’ (quite often in the same song …), they remain one of Liverpool’s finest 80’s exports & deserve to be ranked alongside other more suc- cessful acts such as Echo &The Bunny- men. Indeed, McNabb often rolls out The IcicleWorks name to perform two and a half hour shows of their greatest mo- ments every other year or so with cur- rent line-up Roy Corkhill, Richard Naiff and Mathew Priest.This band helped pro- duce what I personally regard as Ian’s finest ‘solo’ album, 2017’s ‘Star Smile Strong’ which is worth the price alone for ‘Clarabella (Come To TheWindow)’ – truly one of McNabb’s top 5 song writing achievements. As this is a solo performance, expect to hear choice tracks from the most recent albums, plus older IcicleWorks gems and songs from across Ian’s vast, ever growing songbook, all delivered with passion, hon- esty and plenty of humour thrown in. This is an intimate performance with very limited tickets and as Ian hasn’t played in Stourbridge in over a decade, it is expected to sell out before the date. Don’t miss out on what I believe will be a ‘gig of the year’.  www.ianmcnabb.com Bongo Bryan Ian McNabb + James Harris