Review: Weller drummer Steve Pilgrim steps into the limelight with impressive solo show in Northampton

Singer-songwriter Steve Pilgrim brought some very welcome Sunshine to Northampton's Playhouse Theatre on Saturday night.

Perhaps best known for being the drummer in Paul Weller's band, a job he has now done for more than 10 years, Pilgrim has plenty more strings to his bow.

The Liverpudlian has also played drums for The Stands and Cast, but he is much more than just a sticks man.

He is also a talented guitarist and vocalist, and an accomplished songwriter as well, as anybody who ventured out to attend his gig at The Playhouse on Clare Street will testify.

The Northampton show was the first date of a mini UK acoustic tour Pilgrim was due to undertake to mark the 10th anniversary of the release of his second solo LP, Sunshine.

Unfortunately, the following dates were later cancelled following advice around coronavirus.

But the show at the small but perfectly formed Playhouse Theatre went ahead as planned, and it was a real treat for those who went along.

In an hour-long set, which followed on from a support slot from Keiron Farrow, Pilgrim played self-penned songs from the Sunshine album, as well as other old songs from his other solo LPs, and a couple of new tracks that will be his next offering, which has yet to be recorded.

Pilgrim was relaxed and chatty throughout the evening, and although he is used to playing in front of huge crowds in his Weller day job, he clearly enjoyed the more intimate and low key setting The Playhouse provides.

The fact he was playing to a relatively small audience certainly didn't diminish the passion he put into his performance, which was superb.

In between songs, Pilgrim would also explain what they are about and what inspired him to write them, and it is clear he is someone with a social conscience.

One of the highlights of the show was the song Kindness That Keeps You, written about 'the heroes of the NHS', while another, the touching Love On Your Side, was written about his two young children.

Other standouts were Sunshine, Morning Skies and Keep Falling Down, and he finished the set with the thought-provoking Beautiful Blue and a new song called Yes Man.

Pilgrim's music is heartfelt, at times melancholic, but he is a clearly person who on the whole looks at life through a positive lens.

He is also a real talent who has written some excellent songs which are in all honesty deserving of a bigger audience.

But if that were the case, then those of us who saw him on Saturday wouldn't have got the chance to watch him so close up and in such an intimate setting as The Playhouse.

And that was definitely a big bonus for us.