John Craigie

I hadn’t heard of John Craigie and went to see him on a lark. Bear that in mind. I found Craigie an affable performer, and clearly it earns him a lot of fans. His set consisted of songs (all of them) from the Beatles’ Abbey Road album, as he facetiously explained in evoking a Venn diagram of Beatles and Craigie fans, audience members needing to be both to hang with the program. Sure dat. Craigie’s musical style can be quite bare and basic, rising to the melodic and expressive on rare occasion. His style served to deconstruct the Beatles tunes, ripping them from familiar context and throwing them asunder. How successfully you experience their reconstruction I guess is largely a matter of personal taste. At his best, Craigie infuses the tunes with a sympathetic blend of idiosyncratic reverence and troubadour folkiness. At their worst, the songs come to resemble Bob Dylan covering Frank Sinatra, and the results are not pretty. I give Craigie a mixed review: His exaggerated folksiness works well for songs with country and folk underpinnings like Rocky Racoon; we see Craigie’s ironic edge perfectly complimenting the sardonic tone of Maxwell’s Silver Hammer; and Craigie’s boyishness does well in channeling the charm of Octopus’s Garden. Craigie also did a rousing rendition of Polythene Pam, an unfortunately too rare instance of his exhibiting melodic chops. But in songs like Something (in the way she moves me) Craigie’s laconic folksiness failed to deliver on the requisite longing and passion inherent in George’s music and lyrics, and many songs suffered from the casual formlessness and sense of rambling conveyed by Craigie’s vocal style. Overall, his country twang, while a common folk affectation, poorly served the Venn circles of overlapping correspondence needed to support the varying styles of material from Abbey Road. Also, Craigie’s acoustic guitar could be almost inaudible, dipping and rising in volume as if in careless (as opposed to carefree) abandon of verses and choruses. I can see Craigie’s appeal, but not in all things for all people.

Thinking of having a divorce party? John would be the perfect entertainment. (His words too).

Craigie is a great storyteller and performer, bringing his witty observations, wisdom and pathos by the bucketload. A laid back fun style that is engaging and relaxing at the same time.

Go and see - he’s going to tour with my other faves The Rainbow Girls in the US, if only he could convince them to bring this to the U.K., I’d be front and centre.

Trousers were shocking though!

Simply amazing. Goosebumps the whole show. I laughed. I cried. I was pretty high.
Truly a great performance.
John sets himself apart with unique song writing, clever lyrics and fantastic story telling to check all the boxes.

What a great show! This was my first time at Mississippi Studios, and I love the venue; it was a very friendly crowd. Overall, a wonderful evening! I would definitely recommend this show to anyone.