Live: Mack Hofberg @ The Wedgewood Rooms

When you spend your time photographing and reviewing live music, it stands to reason you try to chase the biggest acts you can possibly find; there’s something particularly exciting about snapping a major artist in the throes of performance. But, the thrill of capturing a superstar that you know has been pictured thousands of times before can still be eclipsed when you find yourself at the other end of the spectrum. Who is to say that today’s unknown band or artist isn’t tomorrow’s Catfish And The Bottlemen or Adele? So, when I was recently tipped off that a highly regarded but practically unheard of local talent was playing his biggest gig by far at Portsmouth’s Wedgewood Rooms, I jumped at the chance to check him out.

Mack Hofberg performing at The Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth on 3 March 2016 (Simon Reed)

Mack Hofberg performing at The Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth on 3 March 2016 (Simon Reed)

The highly regarded but practically unheard of local talent in question goes by the name of Mack Hofberg. Hofberg, just nineteen, was a student at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, Surrey – one of the largest specialist contemporary music schools in the country. It’s a place that spews out prodigious talent with great regularity – Ed Sheeran and Newton Faulkner are notable alumni. Take a walk around the town though and the inordinate number of ACM guitar cases slung over drooping shoulders tells you that, sadly, it’s also a place fostering an awful lot of dreams shared by an awful lot of people you’re never going to hear about. An evening in the company of Mack Hofberg has left me concluding that regardless of where he goes from here, he certainly deserves to be one of the notable ones.

Mack Hofberg performing at The Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth on 3 March 2016 (Simon Reed)

Mack Hofberg performing at The Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth on 3 March 2016 (Simon Reed)

Dressed in a plaid shirt and with just an acoustic guitar and an eponymously titled kick drum for company, Hofberg cut a lonely figure on the Wedgewood Room stage. He opened with the self-penned instrumental Cowboy Song and immediately it was apparent what all the fuss was about. He plays an acoustic guitar, finger style in the mould of the phenomenal Andy McKee, which means plenty of percussive taps, slaps and snaps and frequently both hands at the business end of the neck picking and fingering the strings. Harmonics sizzle out of Hofberg’s fingers as if they were passing too close to a nearby Van de Graaff generator. It’s kind of what Eddie Van Halen used to do, minus the bad taste, distortion and Spandex. This style of playing also lends itself to the notion that you’re hearing several guitar parts at once and it’s refreshing to be getting it from raw talent alone rather than a £99 looping effects pedal from the local music shop.

Mack Hofberg performing at The Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth on 3 March 2016 (Simon Reed)

Mack Hofberg performing at The Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth on 3 March 2016 (Simon Reed)

The set has one cover, Drifting, an instrumental by the aforementioned Andy McKee who it transpires through a story we’re told is Hofberg’s idol and somebody he met when he was fifteen. When Mack asked him “How can I be as good as you”, McKee replied after a few seconds consideration: “You can never be as good as me”.

Mack Hofberg performing at The Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth on 3 March 2016 (Simon Reed)

Mack Hofberg performing at The Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth on 3 March 2016 (Simon Reed)

Hofberg quickly established himself as a consummate guitarist, but he is more than that. As well as delivering some of the finger picking pyrotechnics of his peers, he also has a voice; an ethereal and fragile vocal that’s full of emotion and suggests a few life experiences that somehow seem inconsistent with his age. The whole is a collection of finely handcrafted songs that fit into the folk pop/rock territory occupied by the likes of Ben Howard and Nick Mulvey. Mack closed the set with Going Nowhere, another percussive song that fostered some nice crowd participation and garnered well earned and vocal support from a very appreciative crowd.

Mack Hofberg performing at The Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth on 3 March 2016 (Simon Reed)

Mack Hofberg performing at The Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth on 3 March 2016 (Simon Reed)

After the performance I asked him whether he saw himself as a guitarist that sings or a vocalist that plays guitar. He confided that he feels he’s more the latter but that he’d like to think he’s a better songwriter than either. That might be true, but he also said: “Short of what I relentlessly practice, I’m an incredibly average guitar player”. That, my friends, manifestly isn’t true.

Mack Hofberg performing at The Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth on 3 March 2016 (Simon Reed)

Mack Hofberg performing at The Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth on 3 March 2016 (Simon Reed)

So, is Mack Hofberg going to be a household name in years to come? Who can say in a world where sadly most of us are told what to like by clowns like Simon Cowell and Ricky Wilson. What I do know is that if you see his name listed as performing at a venue near you then do yourself a favour and go. There can’t possibly be more than one ‘Mack Hofberg’ about so it’s a very low-risk option; he is an artist completely deserving of a wider audience and your ears will thank you for it too. You heard it here first.

[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000W1ZQfYE_Yz0″ g_name=”Mack-Hofberg” f_show_caption=”t” f_show_slidenum=”t” img_title=”casc” pho_credit=”iptc” f_link=”t” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”t” f_fullscreen=”t” f_show_watermark=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_mtrx=”t” fsvis=”f” width=”600″ height=”450″ f_constrain=”t” bgcolor=”#ffffff” bgtrans=”t” btype=”new” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” crop=”f” twoup=”t” trans=”flip” tbs=”4000″ f_ap=”t” linkdest=”c” f_topbar=”f” f_bbar=”f” f_bbarbig=”” f_smooth=”f” f_up=”f” target=”_self” ]

Live Review & Concert Photography by Simon Reed. See more of Simon’s photography on his personal website: www.musicalpictures.co.uk

Andrew Cushin (Tom Hill)

Newcastle’s Andrew Cushin Is Waiting For The Rain

The north-east’s next breaking star Andrew Cushin has dropped  his eagerly anticipated debut album Waiting For The...
Herkedal (Press)

Herkedal Shares Wild Raspberries & Plum Trees EP

Herkedal is a young artist with a veteran soul. His songs are rich with evocative nostalgia and timeless musicianship,...
Karen Harding (Press)

Karen Harding Drops Debut LP Take Me Somewhere

Karen Harding has released her debut album Take Me Somewhere via Ultra Records today. Marking the release Karen has...
Shawn Colvin @ Union Chapel (Kalpesh Patel)

Shawn Colvin Charms At Union Chapel

Shawn Colvin has been to the UK many times. In fact, she regales us with tales of how her early days of playing and...
ØXN (Megan Doherty)

ØXN Drop Nine Minute Cruel Mother Ahead Of Album Release

ØXN, the experimental doom folk band comprising Radie Peat, Katie Kim, John ‘Spud’ Murphy and Eleanor Myler, have...
Jamie Miller (Press Photo)

Jamie Miller Leaves Nothing Unsaid In Empty Room

Having come from humble beginnings in working class Wales, L.A.-based artist Jamie Miller has become a breakthrough...
Sisters Of Mercy @ Roundhouse (Adrian Hextall)

The Sisters Of Mercy Kick Off UK & European Tour In Tumultuous Style

This was the first of two shows The Sisters Of Mercy were playing at Camden's famous Roundhouse venue at the start of...
Dexys (Sandra Vijandi)

Oh Geno! Dexys Divide The Crowd At The London Palladium

With the promise of a full performance of their first album in seven years, it’s easy to see why the long-standing...

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Share Thing