Bellowhead 13/4/2016

I went to this gig based on a friend's recommendation and on liking an appearance from Bellowhead on Jools Holland a while back. It was a good call. The most striking thing was the sound which was very, very tight for such a big band (eleven band members most of whom were playing on every track) and also a great and unusual mix of instruments. The bass sound was a combination of a sousaphone and a cello, there were up to four fiddles playing and various other instruments came out such as bozouki, concertina, melodeon, oboes. Jon Spiers, the vocalist was also very good, a confident exuberant performance which was actually true of all of the band - there was plenty of energy and bounce in the show. I didn't know the songs which were folky but upbeat and it was a real feelgood set of songs and tunes played at a consistent level of excellence. The support was meh - a folky band called Mawkin who seemed to major on drinking songs. The one tune I really liked was ' a mediaeval French dance tune' which featured the fiddle player.