REVIEW: PAUL CARRACK & ELLIOTT MORRIS, MILTON KEYNES THEATRE

Being under the sole spotlight at Milton Keynes Theatre standing before a packed auditorium could be a lonely place, or so you might imagine. Not that Elliott Morris would know though, because no sooner had this young talent with an unassuming air made it to centre stage and strummed out the self-penned track Man on a Wire (written about Philippe Petit, who walked a tightrope between New York's Twin Towers in 1974) than he was walking his own path to success before an audience of Paul Carrack fans. The finger style work of late guitarist Eric Roche has played its large part in influencing Elliott, and he p(l)ays musical tribute, delivering a sterling version of Roche's instrumental delivery Spin. Swapping his guitar for a smaller Tenor guitar ('It's what happens if you water a ukulele,' someone once told our music man) and he delivers folk standard Courting is a Pleasure, and the beautifully simple Throw Me A Rope. What's worse for a guitarist than having a guitar string snap during a live performance?  Possibly when the replacement snaps too. An impromptu mini-interval for the percussive guitar player to rectify things could have been a woeful moment of eerie silence, but Elliott has already transfixed and impressed the assembled. "...the rest of the tour has gone smoothly!" he says, returning to the stage to wow us with a rather tremendous version of Jackson's Billy Jean. By rights, it's a gargantuan track that should be left alone.  That Elliott has taken it on and shines brightly with a glowing arrangement, speaks volumes. The last person performing at the venue before Elliott was Derren Brown, the illusionist and hypnotist. Elliott's set hypnotises too, but he doesn't need to use trickery to get us there.  He oozes style,  walks his own path and uses raw talent to do it.   Anyone who has seen Paul Carrack before knows exactly what they have paid for - a slick set of sounds, delivered by a band very much on the money, and at the heart of the deal, that unmistakable voice. And, on this final night of an extensive UK tour, it's business as usual. Although there is little else usual about the man Carrack - certainly his ability to manoeuvre the decades and deliver song after stunning song that fix themselves limpet-like into our minds is anything but ordinary. As for that voice, which is still holding strong? There's a reason it has been christened the 'golden voice,' and he ably shows why during a well formed set. Early set numbers Life's Too Short (lifted from the new opus Rain or Shine), and the Mike & The Mechanics smash Another Cup of Coffee  warm up an eager crowd, but one content to clap enthusiastically while remaining demure in their seats.  At least for the moment. Carrack wrote Love Will Keep You Alive with Jim Capaldi and Peter Vale.  The Eagles performed it first, before Carrack claimed it on an album in the mid-nineties. We are treated to the live rendition of that, and the terrific Squeeze track, Tempted. While the songs come thick and fast, with Paul switching from guitar to keys, his band - drums, percussion, guitar, bass, keys and sax - stay on top of their game. They play with an easy, locked-in ease, and look frankly thrilled to have a gig with one of the best.  As you would. When not penning his own slabs of the sensational, Carrack has an uncanny ability at picking songs by others, and gently reinterpreting them - Springsteen's If I Should Fall Behind and Brenda Lee's I'm Losing You are two, and If Loving You Is Wrong, a track made famous by Bobby 'Blue' Bland, another. The Living Years, Over My Shoulder and How Long are enough to shake loose the shackles from an audience and by the time the band plays its last chords of the tour, the theatre entire has found its feet and is revelling in this return visit from the man, the voice. Paul Carrack is still in control, still in demand, and still bang on tune, and though this tour might have ground to a halt, the Carrack bus keeps on rolling - next week he'll be at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, as a member of Eric Clapton's band. Lucky New Orleans.