Tag Archives: Folk Music

Britfolk Footprint – February 2012

8/10

Chichester Festival Theatre

Date: Tuesday 7th February 2012

This was a really good concert of British folk music, with some new acts and one major reunion to enjoy.

First up was Sean Taylor, a solo performer with a strong blues influence. His guitar playing was fantastic and he produced some amazing sounds – bright and clear. His singing was good too, but as I’m not really into blues music I can’t really comment on that side of things. Check out his website – www.seantaylorsongs.com

The second act in the first part was Pilgrim’s Way, a group that are up for one of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. With three members – Edwin Beasant, Tom Kitching and Lucy Wright – they looked a little lost on the big Festival Theatre stage to begin with, but after they’d warmed up and relaxed they came across a lot better. They focus on traditional British folk music, and it was good to hear some different versions of songs we’ve become so familiar with in Steeleye’s repertoire, such as The Weaver and the Factory Maid.

Edwin plays just about every instrument under the sun – tonight he stuck to accordion, guitar and mouth organ, although he did actually play both the accordion and mouth organ at the same time for the final instrumental. Tom is described on our handout as fiddle, mandolin, reluctant vocals – didn’t notice any reluctance on his part for any of those tonight, while Lucy provided most of the vocals and also played the Jew’s harp, an instrument I’d heard of but not heard before; sounds a bit like a didgeridoo on speed. Their website is at www.pilgrims-way.net

It was good to see some new acts, and hopefully we gave them a warm welcome as they stepped up to a larger venue than their usual gigs. No problems there for the headliners, who gave us over an hour of songs to entertain us. We’d seen the Oysterband back in 2007, but this time they were reunited with June Tabor. They’d worked with her about twenty years ago, releasing the album Freedom And Rain and touring together, including to the USA. Now they had reunited to record another album, Ragged Kingdom, and we were lucky enough to hear most of it during tonight’s performance.

The only downside for me was that I found I couldn’t make out many of the words when June Tabor was singing, apart from a few of the numbers where we either knew the words already or the band was much quieter (or even silent for one a cappella song). Even so, it was a great concert, and again it was interesting to hear some different versions of much loved numbers.

The lineup for tonight was John Jones, Alan Prosser, Ray ‘Chopper’ Cooper, Dil Davies, Ian Telfer and Al Scott, with June Tabor as well of course. The playlist was as follows (Ragged Kingdom tracks marked *):

Bonny Bunch of Roses* – good start. They had a DVD playing some images on the screen at the back which worked quite well with this one.

Fountains Flowing* – John Jones arrived on stage for this one, a variation on Fighting For Strangers.

All Tomorrow’s Parties

Love Will Tear Us Apart* – yes, this was the Joy Division song. One of the things I love about folk music is that it’s not cliquey; folk musicians will perform anything that they feel is a good song, and quite right too. I liked this version very much.

If My Love Loves Me* – June introduced this song very well, but as I couldn’t make out the words I had no idea what happened. From the printed lyrics, it all ends happily.

Molly Bond – an old song from the early days about a man who accidentally kills his own girlfriend. How careless! Another good one.

That Was My Veil*

(When I Was No But) Sweet Sixteen* – the dangers of believing a young man when he says he loves you. There are a lot of songs in the folk tradition giving the same warning – not very effective, are they?

Bonny Susie

Mississippi Summer – lovely blending of June and John’s voices in this one.

Son David* – or Edward, as we know the Steeleye version by. This was a Scottish version, and very good too.

The Bells Of Rhymney – another one from the early days about the closing of the coal mines, though now it has a wider reach, sadly.

The Hills Of Shiloh* – a reminder of the reality of war, sung on their earlier tour of the States when the original Gulf War was all over the news. A lovely song, beautifully done, just June with Alan on guitar.

Meet You There – the singalong number. Great fun.

Dark Eyed Sailor – another one we knew, but this was a different version.

Seven Curses* – a less well known Bob Dylan number; thankfully they have much better voices than he does.

And for the encore:

The Dark End Of The Street* – nicely done.

White Rabbit – one of Steve’s favourites.

We stayed behind to buy some CDs and I was given a copy of the playlist as well, which is how I know the above list is accurate. I also took the opportunity to ask the Oysterband members for their autographs on said playlist – now there’s a memento to treasure. And their website is www.oysterband.co.uk (and they won at the Radio 2 Folk Awards as well!)

© 2012 Sheila Evans at ilovetheatre.me

Capercaillie – February 2011

8/10

Chichester Festival Theatre

Date: Sunday 13th February 2011

Another good concert from this group, preceded by an entertaining set from Richard Wood and Gordon Belsher, Canadians both from Prince Edward Island. Richard Wood is one of those pipe cleaner people, tall and thin with a mass of hair, a bit like Ian Anderson, and just as much of a showman. Apparently he started off as a youngster doing Irish dancing, and he treated us to a bit of that tonight along with some fireworks for their finale. His fiddle playing was pretty good too. Gordon Belsher had some interesting songs, and the two clearly got on very well. We bought the CDs.

Capercaillie were also on a mini tour (they just can’t take the long days on the road anymore), and gave us a good selection from their repertoire, several of which we recognised from the one CD we bought last time. Sadly, there were no more to buy this time, as they hadn’t brought any with them (shame!). Still, we had a good haul from the other acts, and although we were getting a bit tired by this time, we’d thoroughly enjoyed this mini-festival, and hope Chichester Festival Theatre can build on this for future years.

© 2011 Sheila Evans at ilovetheatre.me

The Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir – February 2011

6/10

Chichester Festival Theatre

Date: Saturday 12th February 2011

The choir came out to do a few numbers at the start, followed by Allan Y Yn Fan, a Welsh folk group (yes, there are such things!), and then the choir did a longer stint after the interval. There were lots of chairs ranged in three rows at the back of the stage, with the microphones and usual kit about mid-stage in front of them, and a keyboard off to the left. The keyboard was for the choir’s accompanist, while the band had a range of instruments, as well as singing beautifully (their CD has a lovely version of All Through The Night).

I wasn’t so impressed with the choir tonight. I found the singing a bit on the thin side – I was expecting a richer sound – and the keyboard, set up to mimic a regular piano, seemed to be a fraction of a tone off-key with the singers, or vice versa, which grated with me a lot. The choir did a few songs unaccompanied, which worked ever so much better, as the balance was fine within the choir itself. I also wanted more Welsh songs from them, but they included a lot of modern numbers, including some I’d done as part of a choir in my schooldays, so I could make some direct comparisons and even  allowing for the mellowing effect of nostalgia, they didn’t come off best in my book.

However, the Welsh group, Allan Y Yn Fan, were much better. Their main singer has a lovely voice, and their blend of instruments was good, though I did get the impression they hadn’t been together long as they seemed a little rough to begin with. But they soon settled down, and had us well warmed up by the time we left the stage. And we bought several CDs of theirs.

For the second half, the choir actually used the chairs. Their leader did some patter between songs, to give the others a chance to rest their voices – his apparently could hold out for the whole evening without a break. His jokes concerned a couple, Dai and his wife (don’t remember her name), and kept us entertained in the gaps. Actually, they were the best bit of their section for me. They finished with a traditional Welsh song whose name I cannot spell, but which would be instantly recognisable to many, and rounded things off with the national anthems, British and Welsh. I can’t help feeling I’d like to learn the Welsh one sometime, though whether I will…….. We didn’t buy their CD, but I’m still happy to see another Welsh male voice choir in the future. I noticed the members of this one were mostly getting on a bit, so I hope they can get some new recruits to keep them going.

© 2011 Sheila Evans at ilovetheatre.me

Celtic Footprint – February 2011

8/10

Chichester Festival Theatre

Date: Friday 11th February 2011

Another great evening of music, and a great way to start the year. The opening act was Cara Dillon, whom we hadn’t heard live before, although we had heard of her. She has a lovely voice, and we enjoyed her set very much, along with the details of her personal life – new baby, wrecked house thanks to flooding, new kitchen on the horizon, hubby in the doghouse for criticising her cooking, etc. Her technique for getting one of her twins to accept the new baby was interesting – she kept telling him they would give the baby back, and then when they were leaving for this gig he got all concerned, thinking she might actually do it. Good work. And we bought the CD.

Second act was Anxo Lorenzo, the Galician piper whom we’d enjoyed very much last year. He had a couple of extra players in his band, including a double bass player with one of those very thin electric basses, and another guitar player, as well as the fiddler and guitarist we reckon were with him last year. Another great set from him, with lots more whistles as well as the pipes, and we clapped and clapped. And bought another CD.

Finally, there was Lunasa, an Irish band who were on a mini tour, this being the last night (I think, although I might be getting confused with Cara Dillon, who was definitely on her way home after the gig). They were another great band whom we hadn’t heard before, and again, the CD is now in the car. They were basically instrumentalists, and fairly taciturn on the whole, although their ‘front’ man – he was actually on the far left – had a great line in patter, with comments about a particular tune being about a battle in his home town, a battle between him and his wife, in fact. He didn’t tell us who’d won, sadly. So, a great night, three CDs, and another two nights to go.

© 2011 Sheila Evans at ilovetheatre.me

Fairport Convention – February 2011

9/10

Chichester Festival Theatre

Date: Tuesday 8th February 2011

This was an absolute stonker of a performance. Fairport were supported by Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts this time round, flushed with success from winning an award for best new song. They sang it for us as well, and fortunately, it was a good one – nothing like a big intro for inducing disappointment. CD already in the bag.

Fairport came on as their backing band for their last number, and then held the stage for their one opening number – a ‘brief’ version of the whole of Babbacombe Lee album. A mere forty-five minutes, and very enjoyable, if a tad long. I recognised the later songs, as Fairport have been doing mini-selections from the album for the last couple of years, and the familiarity helped with my enjoyment.

After the interval there was another good selection of songs, again dipping into the back catalogue for a number of them. Both Chris Leslie and Simon Nicol were in fine voice tonight, a considerable improvement over last year when Simon in particular sounded a bit rough. We may have caught them late in the tour last year, which can make a difference, or perhaps it was the much colder weather. Anyway, we enjoyed this even more this time, and didn’t stint ourselves when it came to the CD stall. Excellent.

© 2011 Sheila Evans at ilovetheatre.me

Celtic Footprint – February 2010

8/10

Venue: Chichester Festival Theatre

Date: Sunday 7th February 2010

The first act was called The Gentle Good, which sounds like a band, but was in fact a solo artiste, Gareth Bonello. A Welsh folk singer/songwriter, he was accompanied on this gig by harpist Harriet Earis. Between them they made light work of some songs (in Welsh) which all seemed to be about sad, depressing subjects, and some livelier tunes which were much more robust than I’m used to hearing from a harp. Harriet kept looking round at us with a broad grin on her face, like a mischievous elf looking for someone to play tricks on. She was probably just checking that we hadn’t all scarpered, because there was the usual wide gulf between us and the musicians, one of the drawbacks of the Festival theatre when it comes to bands. Their set had some lovely pieces, and the CDs are definitely on our list.

Second act was Galician piper Anxo Lorenzo. My God, what an amazing talent! He started at the back of the front stalls, playing on his bagpipes, and then walked down and onto the stage, to join his two mates playing on fiddle and guitar or mandolo (similar to a mandolin, but larger and flatter, with eight(?) strings). His set got us all fully warmed up, with some marvellous tunes played on both the bagpipes and other pipes, and his sense of humour came across really well too. No CD available, sadly.

Third act, after the first interval, was Daimh (pronounced dive). This group was an eclectic blend of Scottish, Canadian and Breton musicians, with songs being sung in Gaelic, and bagpipes again well to the fore.

Finally, for the last long set, Dervish took the stage, an Irish band specialising in music from the Sligo area (references to tunes from other areas of Ireland were somewhat derogatory). Their singer, Cathy Jordan, was dressed in green, and did most of the talking, introducing the songs and suchlike. She has a good voice, and the songs and tunes were fine. There was even some audience participation, strongly encouraged by Cathy.

At the very end, for the encore, everyone else joined them on the stage for a final song – don’t remember which one – and we went away thoroughly happy with our long evening of music.

© 2010 Sheila Evans at ilovetheatre.me

Fairport Convention – February 2010

8/10

Venue: Pavilion Theatre

Date: Tuesday 2nd February 2010

The support for this tour was a duo calling themselves Dark Horses – Flossie and Keith. She’s from France, via Darlington, and there were lots of laughs as she told us her story, especially how she, with a degree in English, had to adapt to the way English is actually spoke, like. Keith was also very funny, and a proper Geordie, though his accent wasn’t a  strong as Flossie’s.

They started with a couple of songs together – not bad but not really to my taste. Keith played guitar excellently, as did Flossie for her solo, and she has  a gorgeous voice. Bit nasal, but very rich and strong. After the first two songs, she did a Jacques Brel number called The Port Of Amsterdam, in French. No idea about the words, but the tune and her singing were fine. Keith did his solo next – a song entitled Kama Sutra, which included moves for the audience, leaning to the left for ‘left’, leaning to the right for ‘right’, slumping down for ‘down’, sitting up for ‘stand’ and clapping for ‘blue’. He even introduced a new move part way through when he saw one chap in the audience put his hands together as if in prayer on the word ‘alone’. As the song was full of these words, we were pretty active for a few minutes, both with the movements and laughing, which got us fully warmed up in both senses of the word.

Keith and Flossie sang a couple of songs more, enjoyable enough, then introduced Fairport and sang the first song of their set with them – Si Tu Dois Parti. This was the first time they’ve done it in the original language, thanks to Flossie’s presence. Fairport then gave us a selection of songs and tunes, old and new, including The Happy Man, Wouldn’t Say No, Jewel In The Crown, Hen’s March and other tunes, a Sandy Denny song called Rising to The Moon, Sir Parsifal, Ukulele Central, Walk Awhile, Dirty Linen (instrumental), Rocky Road (an adaptation of Prickly Bush), two Babbacombe Lee songs – Dream and Execution, Danny Jack’s Chase (instrumental), Who Knows Where The Time Goes, John Gaudie and The Bowman’s Retreat, etc. I enjoyed most of the set, though I still find it hard to hear what they’re singing. They finished the first half with The Festival Bell, and the second with an old favourite, slightly refurbished, Matty Groves.

The encore was another long-standing favourite of theirs, Meet On The Ledge. We were all encouraged to join them at this year’s Cropredy festival to sing along with this one at midnight on Saturday. From the response, it’ll be standing room only.

© 2010 Sheila Evans at ilovetheatre.me

Fairport Convention – February 2009

6/10

Venue: Pavilion Theatre, Worthing

Date: Friday 5th February 2009

Fairport were being supported on this tour by a wacky combo consisting of Ken Nicol (Albion Band, Steeleye Span and solo) and Phil Cool. Weird or what. Actually, they worked very well together; in fact they were probably better than the main act for me, and we bought their album at the end.

Their first song was the Kinks’ Sunny Afternoon. To put this in perspective, this was our first night out for quite a while, given the family circumstances and atrocious weather conditions. Admittedly, Worthing had got off pretty lightly, but it was still cold and damp, so opening with a song about lovely summer weather was definitely counter-intuitive, though good. Ken also gave us a solo instrumental, while Phil entertained us with his impersonations of famous people singing well known songs. This culminated in George W, accompanied by Donald Rumsfeld on banjo (looking suspiciously like Ken Nicol), singing a song about being an oilman. Phil also did an interesting song about Bob Dylan’s electric conversion, called Confiding In Maria. There were a few other songs, and Fairport turned up to form their backing group for their final number (apparently a tradition).

This done, Ken and Phil left the stage to the main band, and for me the enjoyment lessened. I think it just took me a while to warm up to Fairport’s style, plus the balance wasn’t ideal, as the vocals kept being drowned out. Apart from Chris Leslie, I found the singing uninteresting, and so I was quite happy they didn’t go on too long. Reynardine was good, and one or two of the others were OK, but on the whole it wasn’t my kind of music. We did get the CD from last year’s Cropredy festival, and listening to that it may well be that the acoustics were the main problem tonight, although as they had guest singers on the CD, I’ll reserve judgement till I have more evidence.

Ken and Phil returned for the final number, another tradition, and as Ken would be reporting back to Steeleye about the reception they got, we were asked to applaud as loudly as we could so as to get an encore. We were promised there was a special treat in store if we did, and to be fair, the sight of several grown men playing ukuleles, with a washboard and bass guitar rounding it off, was pretty impressive. The song was OK too, though not as special as I would have liked. The sing-along number which preceded the encore was another disappointment, as I didn’t know it, couldn’t make out the words, and very few people seemed to be joining in. Ah well, Steeleye in April, that’ll do me.

© 2009 Sheila Evans at ilovetheatre.me

Oysterband – November 2007

8/10

Minerva Theatre

Date: Thursday 29th November 2007

This was the first time we’ve seen the Oysterband, though we’ve been aware of them for a number of years. The support act was Dan Donnelly, who also played with them during their set. He’s an Irishman who now lives in New York, and whose songs covered some of the basics of human experience – love, loneliness, etc. Songs such as Love Will Save The Day, Cigarette, Lonely Still, Shine and a number of others, warmed us up nicely, although from Dan’s perspective we were still incredibly reserved. No swearing, no throwing bottles, what was the matter with us? He had a good voice, and I liked the songs well enough to buy a CD, but the most interesting thing was the amazing box of tricks at his feet. He was able to set up rhythms, riffs, etc, and get the machine to loop them as a backing track – the most amenable band in the world. It sounded great, so I’ll be interested to hear what the CD is like.

The Oysterband needed no introduction to their fans, and gave us a blend of new songs and old favourites. Bury Me Standing, Meet You There, Here Comes The Flood, Dancing As Fast As I Can, and Over The Water are from the new album, while oldies included If You Can’t Be Good and My Mouth amongst many. I liked the sound, an unusual combination of folk instruments and modern style, and enjoyed the songs, tapping away to most of them, as were a lot of the audience.

The band had been told they wouldn’t get anyone dancing in Chichester, but that was proved wrong. A brave lady got up to bop in the far aisle about half-way through, and towards the end, lots of folk stormed onto the stage to take advantage of the open space. If I hadn’t been caught up in the middle of a row, I would’ve joined in (possibly). Anyway, the band did the usual encore, and then treated us to a display of their skill that I haven’t seen before, and may not see again for a long time. The regular band members (Dan had disappeared offstage by this time) came in front of the mikes and did a proper acoustic number with no amplification at all. OK, it was quieter than the other stuff, but still audible – the Minerva isn’t that big – and we all got to join in. It was a great way to end their set, and much appreciated. I hope we’ll see them again, and in the meantime I bought a couple of CDs to keep the memory fresh.

© 2007 Sheila Evans at ilovetheatre.me