Cory Henry at Union Chapel 17 May 2016

I saw Cory Henry a couple of Tuesday’s ago at the Union Chapel and it was hands down one of the best gigs I’ve been to in a while. The gig was part of The Revival project where Cory gets to sit down and jam through songs he considers his biggest influences.  He draws on songs he played growing up, both standards and pop, and just runs with them.

It was clear form the get go that he was in his element. With just a drummer – the superlative Taron Lockett – and his 3 keyboards (including the Hammond B3 + Leslie speaker that every review mentions) they create an atmosphere that was intimate and yet also larger than life. 

It would be wrong not to mention that a huge part of this comes from the venue itself. The Union Chapel is indeed a chapel space, complete with Victorian gothic stained glass, and is still used for services. A huge rose window sits above the stage, and a smoke machine was used to great effect. Lockett’s sticks were a blur as he played, and as the stage lights caught the smoke the whole event took on an ethereal feel.

This contrasted with the passion with which Cory sang and played, baring his soul on a version of Ray Charles’ Drowning In My Own Tears. And with the huge sound of the both Cory’s organ and Taron’s drums, there was a shifting sense of being right there with them as they made their music, and sitting back, watching two musicians in a bubble on stage loving life.

The latter sense was most apparent during their cover of Giant Steps. Taron Lockett laid down an absolutely huge backbeat - he had a pad set up along side his kit just for this kind of sound. Meanwhile the former came across during the original composition NaaNaaNaa, a song Cory describes as made to cheer you up and make you feel good.

NaaNaaNaa is also where Cory’s showmanship really comes out, throughout the song he worked the audience, getting different sections of the room to sing different parts. This was a great experience, and you could feel the whole room come together. In essence, this is what The Revival is about: sharing music with the audience and seeing the connection it creates.