It’s a decidedly unpromising start to proceedings when we can’t find our way through Bar 120 to the No Sweat gig in the upstairs room. However, we persevere and are rewarded with an intimate space full of friendly faces and the promise of a special night. We are not to be disappointed.

The focus of the evening is to raise awareness around sweatshops in the developing world which supply many cheap high street brands while employing people in the most appalling conditions for ridiculously small wages. By way of contrast, tonight’s performers are appearing for no wage at all, but they are clearly here because they love what they do, namely flying the flag for original live music, as well as raising awareness of the No Sweat campaign.

First on is Roddy Johnston with a short but sweet set of his own deliciously poetic and sometimes warped songs in a melancholic Scottish folk style. Playing a ringing, open-tuned guitar, he commands the room with his presence and his beautiful voice, as he takes us on a trip through the (sometimes sordid) backstreets of his imagination: there’s travelling characters, an ominous ‘big man’ coming home, tales of going out on the pull, a bunch of no hopers bulllshitting wildly in the pub. All are portrayed with humour, hope and the sweetest melodies. It’s enough to send shivers down your spine.

Next on is Mark Whyatt. He starts with a full-blooded version of Velvet Underground’s ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’. Despite only having a voice and acoustic guitar to thunder upon, the audience is roused to attention. He follows up with some of his own songs. Of particular note are ‘Solid’, a gloriously (post)modern urban love song and ‘Waiting For Rain’, a bluesy barnstormer. The highlight of his set is, however, when he performs a duet with Emily Fretwell of a trad English shanty-style number in which their voices and harmonies blend beautifully. Mark means what he says and says what he means in an original and striking way. We are visibly impressed!

At half time, Steve Blackman gives us a short pep-talk about No Sweat, exposing the worst excesses of such businesses as Tesco, Asda, Nike, Adidas and Disney. Further info is of course to be found at www.nosweat.org , and they’ve got some pretty cool (and ethical) t-shirts too.

However, back to the music, and it’s the turn of James ‘Bar’ Bowen. Like Mark before him, Bar doesn’t believe in holding back when required, but he has matured as a performer, developing a lightness of touch in delivery as well as a finely honed line in patter that ranges from the heartfelt and tear-jerking to the ridiculous and hilarious. He demands the audience’s full attention and the room is completely still to listen to ‘Skin’, a heartbreaking account of modern day racism. His songs tell tales and the characters in ‘The Ironymonger’ and
‘She is’ have lives, voices and emotions we recognise. Bar has an individual acoustic guitar style and a powerful vocal delivery so it’s a great performance with the message of the songs cleverly bound up with their stories, their rhythms and their melodies. Most of all he looks like he’s enjoying himself.

Last up is the turn of Tracey Curtis. Another acoustic guitarist, another fantastic voice, and some more self-penned political songs: however, Tracey proves that there is plenty of mileage left in the genre with some beautifully written lyrics and often under-stated guitar guiding her melodies along. Her political message leaves us in no doubt that she’s on the side of the underdog against the powermongers, but there is also a humour in such great songs as ‘Letters to Mr Bush’, with a twist in the tale. Obviously there is a risk that an evening of political singer-songwriters could be all too worthy and heavy-handed, so Tracey subverts this possibility with a hair-shirted visit from the ‘Vegan Police’, and concludes by overcoming the world’s ills with ‘Rosa’s Happy Song’.

It’s a fittingly optimistic end to a great gig with a sparkling array of talented singer-songwriters, and we even raised the profile and a few quid for the No Sweat campaign. Now all we have to do is try and find our way back out of the venue…

Check out:
www.myspace.com/traceycurtis
www.myspace.com/jamesbarbowen
www.myspace.com/mark_whyatt
www.myspace.com/roddyjohnston
www.myspace.com/nosweatuk
www.myspace.com/bar120