Ian McNabb returned to the same venue that he played in the ’90s, performing three sets to celebrate his band The Icicle Works, which marks 40 years since its debut album album of the same name, beginning first on an acoustic set of solo material. He opened this on 1991 debut single, the fluttery idealistic guitar strokes of ‘Great Dreams of Heavens’ and blew into a harmonica for ‘Merseybeast’, the opening track on his third solo album of the same name, also doing a guitar and harmonica bridge in that as well as ‘Camaraderie’ from the same album, with its skippy guitar.
The next set was performed by his bandmate, Icicle Works co-founding member Chris Layhe, also a solo artist. He played the country tinged ‘Sweet Melissa’ and switched to keyboards for the organ sound of ‘Called the Spirit’, a new song inspired by contemporary Ian Prowse’s open mic nights at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. He also did a cover of The Clash’s ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’, being a fan of the band.
The final set saw both McNabb and Layhe come together for a full Icicle Works set. They performed ‘Hollow Horse’ and ‘Little Girl Lost’, which saw the marrying of light acoustic guitar with rumbling bass, the audience singing along and the duo both doing vocals. They moved onto the only ballad on their 1984 eponymous debut album, ‘Out of Season’; a duet between scaling guitar and trembling bass. Further singalongs included ‘Starry Blue Eyed Wonder’ and then their 1983 second single,’Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)’, their only top-40 song with plucky guitar thumping bass.
11/07/24: The Icicle Works @ The Underworld, London.
Photos © Ayisha Khan.
© Ayisha Khan.