Carmina - 11/5/2019

This was my fourth time for seeing Carmina; two members for the first gig, three for the second, four for the third and therefore of course five band members for this one. This gig was my suggestion for the Village Hall and it went down very well. The band was Pippa Marland (vocals and sax etc), Rob King (guitar), Paul Bradley (guitar), Geoff Castle (Keyboards) and on Double bass The band kicked off with 'Bird of Paradise' as usual and played mainly their own songs with a few covers thrown in. The covers were all excellent choices, 'Into the mystic' (Van Morrison), 'Killing the Blues' (popularised by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant), Graceland (Paul Simon) and as an encore song a superb version of 'Heroes' (Bowie). This last song was a slower, less poppy version of this classic track and was a great finish to the gig. Near the end of the set Carmina did a great 'mash up' of 'Shenandoah' and another song that worked really well and had full-on audience participation for the chorus. Of the band's own songs I particularly enjoyed 'Landmarks' which had a great sense of place for those who know Bristol and'Lord Franklin',and 'Song for Pepper' but the gig was class from start to finish. To get such musicians to a village hall is startling.