Newton Faulkner, Portsmouth Guildhall (From Bournemouth Echo)

Newton Faulkner, Portsmouth Guildhall

10:40am Thursday 29th October 2009

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IT must take immense restraint not to show annoyance when hundreds of people shout for you to play the theme tune to a children’s TV show throughout a set where you have mesmerised them with awesome guitar skills and beautiful songs.

Yet somehow Newton Battenberg Faulkner managed it.

For an hour and a half he played a captivating mix of popular old material and soon-to-be popular new material to a sold out venue, entertaining with witty anecdotes and one-liners in between songs – yet all they wanted was his 20-second version of the SpongeBob SquarePants theme tune.

The poor guy. As part of his live show he does throw in the odd cover or two (most notably Massive Attack’s Teardrop, and at this show No Diggity and You Spin Me Round) but he can’t regret attempting any of them as much as the one about that fictional yellow sponge.

It was a fun evening that at times felt like ‘An Audience With... Newton Faulkner’ in the way he engaged the crowd, rather than just singing at them.

Anyone going to see him at O2 Academy Bournemouth next March is in for a treat – just please don’t spend the whole hour and a half shouting ‘SpongeBob!’ at the dreadlocked man on stage.

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