Concert Review: David Phelps (Ulster Hall – June 10th 2010)

Thursday 10th June saw David Phelps return to Northern Ireland as a solo artist for the first time since November 2008.  David is currently on a European tour and is making 3 further stops in the UK.  Glasgow, London and Stockton.

Revelation, the Northern Irish trio who have recently signed with Crossroads Music in the USA opened the show for David Phelps.  They received a very warm and enthusiastic response from the home crowd. Their set included songs such as, “At Calvary”, “Days of Elijah”, “Oh What A Saviour” and my personal favourite from their set, “I Could Sing About Heaven”. Thomas McCalmont really nailed “Oh What a Saviour”, coming the closest to Ernie Haase on this song than anyone I have heard. I am looking forward to their next project with Crossroads. They blended together very well, sounded extremely polished and also interacted with the audience nicely. A great opening act!

Next the promoter, Trevor King came on and explained a little about the work of Compassion. Trevor had the opportunity to go to Haiti before the earthquake struck earlier this year. He talked about the terrible poverty and abuse that young children suffer in that country. Compassion offer a way out of this terrible situation by offering the chance to sponsor a child. You can learn more about this very worthy cause here.

Next the entire Ulster Hall was plunged into darkness and the live band started into the energetic “Virtuoso”. David Phelps emerged and the crowd received him with a very enthusiastic response. From then on David had the crowd on his side. The first two or three songs were a little shaky, vocally, but once the night went on David’s voice got stronger and stronger. At the end you would not have guessed at all that his vocal chords were in any way not 100%.

Before the concert started I was on David’s website and read about how they nearly had to cancel the European tour as David had been diagnosed with an infected vocal chord after a virus. For the first time in nearly twenty years of professional singing David had completely lost his voice.  To then go ahead on the tour and sing the way he did last night was rather extraordinary.

David covered many  crowd favourites and i thoroughly enjoyed his rendition of “Let The Glory Come Down” Especially with his sister singing the same notes as him, it was a great entertaining performance. The live band really kicked it up a notch or two, it was probably the most edgy song of the night. Jack Daniels, insert jokes here, played the mandolin for a lovely performance of “What a Day That Will Be”. The only instrument being played was the mandolin and it went down a treat. It is the contrast in styles which also makes David Phelps very appealing to many audiences.

Other highlights included David playing the keyboard for “Fly To You” a song David wrote when he was bored in an airport waiting for a flight! The first standing ovation of the night came when David closed out the first half with “Nessun Dorma”. I have heard this live three times and each time, it never ceases to amaze me just how versatile David’s voice is. He can sing an opera classic with ease, belt out a ballad, rock out with “Let The Glory Come Down” and then sit on the edge of the stage and deliver a story song like, “There is a River”.

The second half was a more “unplugged” style, David talked a little more, kept most of the songs slower and more acoustic. This set also included the song, “You Are My All In All”.  This song is also going to be on the new Gaither Vocal Band CD. Interesting! It was a throughly enjoyable set, which concluded with the epic “End of The Beginning”. The crowd stayed on their feet after David had gone and he duly responded with an encore. After the crowd had stopped cheering,  he left us with the timeless, “No More Night”.

Overall it was a really enjoyable concert, the variety of songs that David has on hand is extremely impressive. As I mentioned earlier, he has the opera material, the contemporary, the more traditional southern gospel and then the sound that only David Phelps can create.

My personal highlight, listening to David hit and hold a high note on, “I Want To Live Like a King”. Pitch perfect, no vibrato until the end of the note. Perfect control. Wow!

David Phelps & Phil Boles

UPDATE: Video from the concert has been uploaded to YouTube.

Virtuoso:

What A  Day That Will Be:

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