Jimmy Nail brings stories and songs to life in Festival Drayton Centre - review

Jimmy Nail’s evening of ‘Stories and Songs’ at Festival Drayton Centre opened with an unusually strong instruction to put away phones (‘You don’t want big Jim on your case’). He quickly achieved his stated aim ‘to conjure up an intimate atmosphere in this lovely room’. By the end, he had so successfully engaged and entertained his audience that it rose as one to give him a standing ovation.

The stories Nail told highlighted key points in his rich and varied career, covering seven decades as a singer-songwriter, actor, film producer and television writer.

His first break as an actor came in the popular TV comedy-drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. Nail won the part of belligerent, loud-mouthed Geordie ‘Oz’ Osbourne by displaying exactly those characteristics at audition. His rugged, weathered look remains much the same.

Nail’s style on the Drayton stage, however, reflected kindliness and humility. And there was nothing weathered about Nail’s voice, which remains richly mellow. With sensitive accompaniment by Tony Davis on keyboard, he was a delight to listen to.

The songs often illustrated anecdotes about Jimmy’s friendships, of which there have been many. After a surprising story about playing ukuleles with George Harrison, with whom he was friends for a decade, Jimmy sang ‘Something’. An entertaining story about his meeting Paul Simon led to ‘The Sound of Silence’.

Nail described encounters with Stevie Wonder, Ronnie Wood, George Michael and many others. He encouraged the audience to sing along with ‘Crocodile Shoes’, from his BBC television drama series, and again with his popular 1992 hit ‘Ain’t No Doubt’.

Following his account of playing the role of Agustín Magaldi opposite Madonna in the 1996 film Evita, Nail sang ‘On This Night with a Thousand Stars’, holding the final note for seven bars. Then came a fine rendition of ‘Blue Roses’, which Madonna had told him was the most beautiful song she’d ever heard.

There was plenty of Geordie musical folklore in the show, with many mentions of Sting, Mark Knopfler, Paddy McAloon and others. The much-loved lament ‘The Waters of Tyne’ pleased the half-dozen Geordies in the Drayton audience.

The climax of the show came with a moving rendition of ‘Big River’, which Nail wrote in 1995 as a tribute to his father and their home town of Newcastle. The Geordie sitting next to me gave a deeply emotional sigh as the song ended. ‘That’s our national anthem,’ he said.

By John Hargeaves