overlap

In the quiet part of the year, when it's mostly big outdoor festival gigs rather than theatres and clubs, it can be easy to get out of the habit. And with office-specific stupidity and tightened belts due to the ongoing redundancy saga - I'm still on a further stay of execution, for now - I'm well out of the habit on my local city centre shopping routine. Which is good because it keeps my postman busy, but it also means I don't get to go in a few places where buying stuff online has a sufficient postal cost overhead that it isn't worth it. Which is how I'm not exactly empty-handed going in to the gig. Somewhere in the global picture dictionary I'm sure that if you look up traditional British folk music you'll see a picture of a bloke who won't see fifty again, probably with a beard and quite possibly with an Aran sweater. So it's good to see a bunch of young shavers taking to the stage, and better still to listen to their particular mix of jigs, reels and so on. It's never as good for me without words, and the mix of the fiddle, the guitar and the flute/whistle taking turns as the lead instrument does tend towards a feel that's slightly too disparate (for my taste) but all the same, if One String Loose are the shape of things to come in traditional music then the future looks bright enough. At the other end of the scale, the Oysterband can hardly be called neophytes, and their status as veteran performers is precisely what seems them on a big theatre stage for this one-off show. With the band dressed uniformly in black, John Jones steps up to the mike and the venue fills with his voice. In some ways the content of the set doesn't really matter, this is timeless stuff that could come from any period. June Tabor comes out to join in with several songs off Freedom And Rain - Mississippi Summer is a particular highlight. Some of the covers - Wheel's On Fire, All Along The Watchtower - could be better replaced with Oysterband originals, and even the haunting Love Will Tear Us Apart as maudlin ballad is a good trick I've seen done enough by now, though the rousing Blood Wedding at the end, and the totally unamplified finale song done right on the edge of the stage are great. Songs I recall by the time of writing which I enjoyed include Native Son, Dark Eyed Sailor and By Northern Light, but the evening's highlight for me is Everywhere I Go, which plays to local sensitivities and turns the crowd into a choir. Having earlier done Bells Of Rhymney, a song which rarely fails to send a shiver up my spine due to my familiarity with the places and the spirit it evokes, this time it's the inclusivity and the joining in which sums up the band. It's the trust in the power of the music as the chorus echoes around the theatre which means for a couple of minutes we are all the Oysterband. The Oysterband is a party where you're always on the guest list, and sure of a good time in good company. And it doesn't get much better than that. John Jones, preaching to the converted. * Trust In The Power Of Music is a line from the Oysterband's 'Dancing As Fast As I Can'

Labels: gigs, One String Loose, Oysterband