The 12 Bar is perfect place to see Nick Harper play - small, relaxed - a bit like my front room, but the drinks are pricier. He's playing on the back of the recently released 'Harperspace' cd - I think his most assured to date, and judging by this performance he's reaching the top of his game (or anyone else's for that matter) as a live performer too. For the nerds among you he boasts a new guitar fitted with an acoustic radio pickup(!), which allowed him to start playing from the middle of the crowd and squeeze his way flashily up to the stage.

But who is Nick Harper you ask? He's the son of one of the greatest folk artists this poor benighted group of islands has ever produced - Roy 'The British Bob Dylan' Harper. (Alright I just made that Bob Dylan bit up). Anyway Nick is one of the best acoustic guitarists you will ever see. Trust me on this. But unlike the average virtuoso, he's a fantastic singer and songwriter, a great performer and an all round nice bloke. One of my true heroes.

"So yeah", you say - "just another flashy guitarist with good songs and a great voice with an enormous range and a famous dad." Well, actually, no. All those things are true, but Nick Harper is so refreshing for one reason: I spend hours of my time listening quietly while people with guitars pour their hearts out to a respectfully silent audience. That silence can mask rapt attention, or utter boredom. But the 12 Bar on a Friday is packed - it's not quiet. People are a little drunk, a little boisterous, continually fighting their way to the toilets. There's an unending noise and buzz from the crowd - they really want to enjoy themselves. This doesn't put him off - in fact he feeds on the noise. He already knows he's good, and could play next to a pneumatic drill - he can certainly carry on a conversation with the audience at the same time as playing. There is a point that few can reach, when they transcend playing their instrument, but then there's another point even fewer reach, when they transcend projecting their personality onto the audience and begin to use the audience as their instrument - guiding, shaping and inspiring the evening like the conductor of an orchestra. When this happens - as it did last Friday - it is truly exceptional.

When the audience starts to get a little restless he plays with fireworks. And when they start to become a little breathless, he silences them with such delicate and haunting beauty that we can but gasp.

And then, when we're really impressed, he'll play a cover. Like Elvis' Guitar Man, which I have attempted to play myself before, albeit substantially less successfully. More to the point I have never switched on a distortion pedal in the middle and played the solo from Whole Lotta Love, before returning seamlessly to the electrifying triple-speed original. See? Better than Elvis.

And if you've never seen him cover 'Cosmic Debris' by Zappa, on his own, with just one guitar and a set of funny voices (Zappa uses a 7 or 8 piece band) then you haven't lived.

As the evening wore on I became more and more pharmacologically advanced - but that gig was the real reason I was high all night.

(also playing Feb 9th and Feb 23rd 2001 at The 12 Bar - you really need to go).

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Nick Harper - The 12 Bar Club - 26/01/2001 ©2001 Spekki Chris & Virtually Acoustic
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