The Willkommen Orchestra – Kings Place, London 27/02/10

It’s rare to be put in a bad mood by a support act but when the act in question comprises of little more than a surrealist experiment in bad jazz, am-dram and overhead-projector storytelling, one has every right to feel blighted. So the less said the better about The London Snorkelling Orchestra and the fact that a handful of punters actually leave the auditorium throughout their performance. It’s certainly an odd billing alongside the sincere, pastoral sounds of the Willkommen Orchestra, the Brighton-based collective whose members number in double figures and include at least four bands.

Bolstered by the many successes of the collective in 2009 – among them Nick (Leisure Society) Hemming’s Ivor Novello nomination for “The Last of the Melting Snow”, high profile shows by Sons of Noel and Adrian and a wonderful performance by all concerned at Union Chapel last summer – tonight’s show is only the second (and likely last) time they’ve assembled onstage to back each other up and play a handful of songs by each of the component bands – The Climbers, Shoreline, Sons of Noel and Adrian and The Miserable Rich.

James Malplaquet, frontman for The Miserable Rich, takes the MC role for the main portion of the night and is, by turns, witty and humble as he leads the countless collective members (20? 30?) through a Wilkommen retrospective with a couple of new songs thrown in. So we get the likes of Shoreline’s “Paradise Regained”, which is truly moving and lovely, and Nick Hemming’s “In a Circle”, presumably by his side project The Climbers (an album’s due out in March) which is competent, if a little vanilla.

The highlight of the evening is hearing the honey and sandpaper tones of Sons of Noel and Adrian’s Jacob Richardson filling the expanse of the room, culminating with the epic “Damian”, probably one of the best set-closers I’ve ever heard. Yet despite the perfect acoustic balance of King’s Place, it’s hard for such good sound design to disguise the slightly underwhelming nature of the evening. At times, it’s a hollow and soulless existence out there in the audience. This is no fault of the band, just a natural result of the conflict between such organic rustic songs and the uber-modernity of King’s Place. The music gestates suitably enough but the Collective deserves more locations like Union Chapel to birth and thrive.