Candlelight Concert: Coldplay and Ed Sheeran

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It was off to nearby Northampton to see another in the series of Concerts by Candlelight that are all the rage at the moment. Last time for us was in September, 2023 at Peterborough Cathedral to hear the music of The Eagles. This time it was ‘two for the price of one’ with the sound of Coldplay and Ed Sheeran for one night only at (of all places) Northampton Museum & Art Gallery (famous, of course, for its shoe collection).

I was designated driver, and we picked up Jo and Janet just before 6.30 on a strangely warm evening (for September) – a whopping 19°C! A trouble-free journey meant we were soon in the cultural quarter. We haven’t been to this part of Northampton (just up the road from the Derngate) for a good few years, and we anticipated parking being a challenge. We left in good time assuming we’d need to ‘circle the wagons’ a few times.

What a pleasant surprise! 👍. Actually, for once, parking was easy, and after just a single lap of the area, we managed to grab a spot that was less than two minutes’ walk from the venue. 👏👏

We were soon sipping drinks and testing our strength, undoing the caps on their bottled water in the Museum’s Café, but still leaving us plenty of time to spare and admire the interior! 💪💪.

Back to the music! As things would turn out, the Concert was to be nothing like the candle-lit Concerts we’d previously experienced – in a good way!

Brought to us by ‘Fever‘ (nope, me neither!) the whole marketing effort relating to this event had been somewhat lacking in detail. The result? I’d assumed that it was going to be a similar format to The Eagles by Candlelight event we’d been to, around two years ago – band/vocalists/big event and, of course, candles!

Well, I got the last bit right!

Oh yes, there were plenty of candles! It looked like a power cut from the 70s. Janet and I did a rough count and made it over 600 – mostly at the front, but to the sides, at the back and under the seats too! And, just before we checked that we had the number of the local fire service, we realised they were all LED versions! 😁. I wonder who got the job of switching all those on!!?? 🤔

So far, so normal then! The performance space was fairly dark – and that’s how it stayed – just dark enough to show off the lighting, but light enough so it was fairly easy to locate our seats, although we were shown to our seats (just three rows from the front) by a very polite, well-dressed young man (there, that’s it, I’ turned into my Grandfather!). Whereas The Eagles event was a large performance space (Peterborough Cathedral), this was almost an intimate arrangement, seating only around 150 people. It was a full house, but ‘intimate’ did feel like the correct description, especially with the subdued lighting 🤔

As we settled down, we immediately spotted that there were only four chairs for the musicians and no signs of ANY electricification. To our right was a space for MORE candles with a curious ‘u-shape’ cut out of the middle. Maybe a space for the drummer??? 🙄

Nothing quite so musical, as it turned out – more about maximising their profit from the evening! The space was for photographs taken by the support staff of anyone who wanted a memento of the event.

At just after 8pm, the performance began, but not before we were reminded that no photography was allowed until the final tune. It was, therefore, especially irritating to see that one individual to our left, in front of us in the second row, (and thankfully for him, he was too far away for a poke), who felt it was OK to film the event at regular intervals on his phone. Come the revolution, brothers and sisters, he’s in the first group against the wall! 😡😡.

As the stage seating dictated, there were just FOUR performers. Sporting two violins, a viola and a cello as their instruments of choice, this was to be a ‘stripped back’ musical evening. But would it work as I’m not sure the music of Coldplay lends itself to string instruments, but maybe Ed Sheeran, more so?

Wow! We needn’t have worried. The sound they produced was sublime. The smallish room probably helped the acoustics, but with no amplification, it was just the pure sound of traditional instruments played by an extremely talented group. They covered about a dozen numbers, equally split between Coldplay and Ed Sheeran. All the hits and a single encore piece. They played with confidence and enthusiasm and punctuated each batch of 2/3 songs with a short commentary in turn from each of the group to explain what they were about to play, including a little history of the songs themselves.

All in all, a very polished performance where they didn’t just regurgitate the tunes, they had all been re-orchestrated to bring out the best in the instruments and the players’ musical talents! ‘Candlelight’ titled concerts are a bit over-used (and popular) at the moment when looking online, and I think we’d all assumed they were all ‘the same’. Thankfully, this one was a very different style. Together with the lighting, the performance space, the small(ish) numbers and the choice of music, it all came together perfectly to create a very chilled-out experience 👏👏

Any downsides? Well, apart from our film-making friend from the row in front needing a good kicking, the marketing of this was somewhat lacking. I think it would have been helpful if somewhere in all the communication, they’d mentioned it being a string quartet rather than a ‘Band’. OK, it was a pleasant surprise, but it wasn’t what we thought it was going to be. Ultimately though, we were impressed with tonight and quite taken with the talent on display! However, looking online afterwards, there wasn’t much at all about ‘Ensemble M’ apart from their YouTube Channel HERE – and I’m not sure that was even the same group! Based on tonight, they deserve to be better known! 👍👏

Collectively and individually, they’re sure to do well if this is their chosen career – a fantastically talented bunch of young players who played like they’d been doing it for years, giving us a ‘big sound’ that betrayed their group size! 👏👏👏👏