Villagers returned to Brighton on Friday night and gave a stunning performance in the church of St George’s, Kemp Town.

Opening act Aidan Knight seemed stunned by the enormous crucifix dangling above his head. His dark morose songs used a sort of wailing moan as a coda, much like Dylan used his harmonica in the 1960s, but his humorous in-between chat seemed to get the packed St George’s audience to warm to him.

Lead Villager Conor O’Brien said the band were mid-tour and therefore a little tetchy. Aside from some minor technical issues at the start you couldn’t tell, as they quickly warmed to the environment and grew to fill the whole auditorium. Villagers have produced four fine albums now, and whilst their most recent is a live collection of some of their finest songs rather than just walk through that collection the band took an expansive view of their repertoire, covering a wider range of their songs and playing around with arrangements to give old favourites a new life.

Villagers’ lyrics mesh the personal with the philosophical and they came to the fore in the beautiful St George’s, with every successive songs feeling like a stand-out number. O’Brien moved between guitar and keyboards with ease, and songs like the gorgeous ‘Nothing Arrived’ were given a new funkier edge and the spiritual ‘My Lighthouse’ a beautifully gentle and moving arrangement. By that early point in the set, O’Brien had relaxed enough to suggest that we sing along to ’27 Strangers’, the song from his first album which turns the act of being late due to a bus break-down into a profounder meditation.

St George’s enormous crucifix and suspended Jesus played a part. Having dedicated ‘Hot Scary Summer’ for “all the gays in the audience” he then changed tack and dedicated it to Jesus, this immensely touching break-up song with it’s lines about “all the young homophobes, looking for a fight”. This was then followed by ‘Little Bigot’ and it’s plea to “throw the hatred on the fire” which must have had even greater resonance for O’Brien back home in Ireland than for this progressive and adoring Brighton audience.

The formal set ended with just the duo of O’Brien on keyboards and his harpist performing a gorgeous, delicate version of ‘No-one to blame’, their two voices meshing angelically. The inevitable encore included a subtle cover of Jimmy Webb’s ‘Witchita Lineman’, which allowed drummer Gwion Llewelyn to show his impressive chops on the trumpet, and the delicate and moving ‘Can You Hear Me Now?’. O’Conor claimed that the final song ‘Courage’ was “the happiest song I’ve ever written” and it’s upbeat, confessional lyrics provided a fitting ending to a stunning gig:

“Took a little time to get where I wanted,
It took a little time to get free.
It took a little time to be honest,
It took a little time to be me…”

Villagers have been at the top of their game pretty much from day one, but they have to be seen live and this performance in Brighton was very special. They got a well-deserved standing ovation at the end and I couldn’t spot a single person who remained seated. Bravo indeed.

Villagers, St George’s Church, Friday 12th February 2016
Words and Pictures: Jon Southcoasting