Andy Irvine
HITCHIN FOLK CLUB
MAY 7 2006
Going to see a musician who you’ve admired for the best part of 35 years and who has been the main inspiration behind your own approach to folk music, as Andy has been for me, always involves a certain amount of trepidation! Will he be as good as you’ve built him up to be in your imagination since the last time you saw him? Fortunately the answer to this was a resounding ‘Yes’, when he came to the Hitchin Folk Club on Sunday the 7th of May this year (2006).
He kicked off with his 5/8 version of Reynardine and then straight into “Never
Tire Of The Road”, extolling us to join in with “You fascists
bound to lose” – “especially given the recent local election
results” as he put it!
Other highlights of the first half included the well known spoof on Patrick
Street: “Close Shave”; “Billy Far Out”, a lovely bit
of whimsy about a disintegrating car! (”Here’s a song about one
old Rover by another old rover!” as Andy put it!) and a lovely rendition
of “Carrowclare” which will appear on the Mozaik album when they
can find a record label! “Empty Handed” by the outrageously talented
George Papavgeris was played on the bass bouzouki which was particularly effective
(but then, when isn’t it?) The first half finished with his tour de
force: “The Highwayman” which he has reinstated into his set this
year. OK, so the poem might be romantic old tosh but I love it! When the highwayman
comes riding back over the brow of the hill to face certain death, how can
one not be stirred, especially by the power of Andy’s delivery (with
some of his old acting skills coming in to play perhaps?).
Twenty minutes or so he was back for a second set that lasted the best part of an hour and included too many gems to list them all here. He kicked off with a new song (well I hadn’t hear it before!) called “Oslo”, another humorous song based on a decidedly drunken visit to Norway to a musician friend Lillebjorn Nilsen ( I think!!) There were one or two other pleasant surprises as well, I hadn’t heard him sing “Tom Joad” live before and “Forgotten hero” doesn’t come out that often these days apparently; even more rare a treat was a rendition of “Viva Zapata”! Also included was his great song from Planxty days “As I Roved Out” for which he has now worked out a beautiful accompaniment. He finished, as always, with “The Blacksmith” and then came back for two encores: “West Coast Of Clare” (with the bass bouzouki for a change) and “Arthur McBride” with added harmonica!
So that was it – a superb night; some old favourites plus some newer
and very new material sung with all the warmth, commitment and intelligence
you would expect, the usual staggering fingerwork (which I will never anywhere
near to ever reproducing but inspires me to keep trying!!) and introduced
with a great deal of unforced humour and also modesty!
Is this review a bit partisan perhaps? Of course it is! Have I been totally
objective? Probably not but I don’t care – I had a great night!!
And just to top things off I’m going to see Nancy Kerr and James Fagan
in two days time – my cup runneth over!
For the instrument anoraks amongst you (and I have to confess to being one myself!): As well as his usual, extremely battered guitar-bouzouki (a new one is on order apparently) and the Davy Stuart bass bouzouki, Andy also had with him a Sobell tenor mandola (tuned either CGDG or DAEA, I can’t remember which!) rather than his usual long necked mandolin which he has just one tone down from the normal mandolin tuning. It sounded great – nice deep mellow tone!
Malcolm
A very special thanks to Malcolm for the review of the gig, it is always good
to read reviews from fans of the music.
Malcolm has been one of those people that often corrects my mistakes, keeps me posted on any news or articles and is generally a great chat on musical issues. With people like this out there, it makes all the work a pleasure to do.
Thanks again Malcolm for all the support, advice and friendship.
Kieron