A first venture to a normally distanced gig after eighteen months of no live music except for the distanced Catrin Finch/Seckou Keita gig in June. More interesting musically than I expected - my previous Kathryn Tickell gig back in 2007 in a village hall in Leicestershire was much more traditional Northumbrian music. At the same time the influences were clearly deeply Northumbrian with much made of her current obsession with Hadrian's Wall and her playing the majority of the tunes on her pipes with a fair amount of fiddle thrown in. The band were excellent and it was a great musical line-up. Amy Thatcher on accordion (and clogs) was outstanding and Steph Conner on keyboards, lyres and vocals had a great voice for the music despite being a late recruitment for the tour. It was impressive how she was integrated into the band with her distinctive approach and also range of lyres. The guitarist/ lute player Kieran Szifris and drummer Joe Trusswell kept up the standard but in essence the gig was centred on the three women concocting a heady mix of ancient and modern Northumbrian influenced music. Memorable songs included Old Stones / Holy Island Jig,O-U-T spells out with its harmonising vocals, Nemesis, a ancient inspired song and also an eighties-style poppy song whose title I forget. And of course the clog dancing which we could really appreciate from the front row just a few short feet away from the action. Not forgetting the beautiful sound of the Northumbrian pipes which much as I love the Scottish bagpipes is in the end the better sounding instrument, unless you're marching off to war.
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