Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham - 19 March 2018

This was the fourth time we have seen Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham as a duo and we have seen Aly a couple of times in a trio as well as regularly at the Transatlantic Sessions concerts. Every time I am amazed at his dexterity, timing and astonishing dynamic musicality and he is now into his 70s yet I notice no diminution of his skill. Phil Cunningham is also an astonishing musician both for his amazing skill on the accordion and for the beautiful airs that he writes prolifically. Together they present a relaxed intimate set with chat and anecdotes in between every set of tunes. They were on excellent form - I particularly enjoyed 'The Hangman Reel' which was I think the only song played on a second differently tuned fiddle. Also all of the slow airs and indeed all of the reels and jigs and anything else they played at St Georges last night....

Carmina - 9 March 2018

A last minute spot was Carmina playing at Brockweir. I last saw them in a local pub but this was a much better setting with good sound and an attentive and appreciative audience. This instance of Carmina was a threesome with the two main protaganists (Pippa Marland vocals and saxes, and Rob King, guitar) augmented by Paul Bradley on guitar. Paul was a particularly jazzy and unorthodox guitarist and it worked really well as part of the overall sound. They have an original sound and you can feel the influences strongly, folk, celtic, jazz. The compere introduced them as Celtic Soul and the band very much liked that appellation. Of their original songs I particularly liked the opener ('Bird of Paradise'), 'Sleep', 'Song for Pepper' , 'carol' and 'Concord'. The covers were also well chosen with a sandy Denny song and 'Into the Mystic' as one of the two Van Morrison covers. However the highlight of the gig for me was a stunning version of 'Heroes' which showed a whole new side of this classic Bowie song. It had Paul and Pippa on vocals and some great guitar and sax playing and was slower and much more purposeful than the original. That was the last song before the encore of a rousing 'Big Yellow Taxi'. Excellent gig.

Cara Dillon - 6 March 2018

My first gig at St David's Hall level 3 space. The sound was not brilliant which is essentially a product of the stone walls, pillars and other hard surfaces I guess but they did provide seats, they did close the bar during the performance and the audience was most attentive so all in all a pretty good venue. Cara Dillon's voice is pretty much as good as it gets folk-wise and this intimate show with just Sam Lakeman accompanying on piano and guitar gave the vocals maximum exposure. The whole gig was of a level because her voice is so compelling but I also liked the choice of songs which included the delightful 'Hill of Thieves', 'The Banks of the Bann', 'The Leaving Song', 'Jacket So Blue', 'She's Like The Swallow', 'There were Roses', 'Lakeside Swans', Bright Morning Star and 'The Shores of Lough Bran'. The encore was the moving 'The Parting Glass'. There was a great atmosphere around the gig - both performers and audience obviously enjoying it. Very nice.