Post by leoroberts on Nov 11, 2012 11:50:13 GMT
Great night last night.... Lots of banjo loveliness as the support act (who also joined in some of the Show Of Hands numbers) were a North American banjo and fiddle double act (with occasional harmonica and flat foot dancing) - Matt Gordon and Leonard Podolak. Len (he apparently prefers to be called Len or Lenny - the latter being just a step too far for me) played a total of 4 banjos in the 40 minute slot and I can't honestly say I could work out any discernible difference between what we all know are really just percussion instruments ( )
Steve and Phil were on great form and adding Miranda Sykes to the line-up really adds something - the vocal harmonies, of course, but her sympathetic double bass playing provides atmosphere, rhythm and....ermmm.... Bass!
I think this was my first SoH gig (hard to call them 'concerts' - they're too intimate) in which Galway Farmer didn't make an appearance and the set list was none the poorer for it. Roots, Country Life, Cousin Jack, Cruel River, AIG, all had us singing along to the choruses and songs from the new studio album "Wake The Union" were interspersed throughout.
Steve apologised to those who had been "dragged along having been promised that it wouldn't be too folky" for the fact that they had sat through fiddle and banjo and then promptly opened the set with "your worst nightmare: a chorus song".
I remember going to see them when they launched the Dark Fields album. If you bought the CD you got a free blank cassette tape to "copy it for a friend". The same attitude was on show last night: "please make a copy for a friend - it's not theft; it's generosity". It is also, I suspect, sensible marketing and I can see the common link between this approach and the road trip guitars - try before you buy - it works for SoH and I think it's worked for Dave and Rory, too.
All in all a really good evening, with a good chat with the lads afterwards. What more could you want?
Steve and Phil were on great form and adding Miranda Sykes to the line-up really adds something - the vocal harmonies, of course, but her sympathetic double bass playing provides atmosphere, rhythm and....ermmm.... Bass!
I think this was my first SoH gig (hard to call them 'concerts' - they're too intimate) in which Galway Farmer didn't make an appearance and the set list was none the poorer for it. Roots, Country Life, Cousin Jack, Cruel River, AIG, all had us singing along to the choruses and songs from the new studio album "Wake The Union" were interspersed throughout.
Steve apologised to those who had been "dragged along having been promised that it wouldn't be too folky" for the fact that they had sat through fiddle and banjo and then promptly opened the set with "your worst nightmare: a chorus song".
I remember going to see them when they launched the Dark Fields album. If you bought the CD you got a free blank cassette tape to "copy it for a friend". The same attitude was on show last night: "please make a copy for a friend - it's not theft; it's generosity". It is also, I suspect, sensible marketing and I can see the common link between this approach and the road trip guitars - try before you buy - it works for SoH and I think it's worked for Dave and Rory, too.
All in all a really good evening, with a good chat with the lads afterwards. What more could you want?