Turin Brakes - 12 March 2023

This was a bit of an experiment (like the previous Rheinhans Sisters gig) but when a big name appears at your local concert venue then it makes sense to go. Turin Brakes hit the airwaves when I was fifty, living in rural Leicestershire and not listening to the radio so I had largely missed out on them. They are a classic four-piece band in that they have vocalist/rhythm guitarist, lead guitarist, bassist and drummer. But first was Une an electronic music duo led by Mark Radcliffe with Paul Langley. I didn't take to their music particularly but Mark was very funny in the chat between songs. Turin Brakes payed a 20 song set with as many songs from their first album in 2001 as from their latest album in 2020. The songs and performance were good but the sound from a speaker set we could almost touch was too loud and too harsh. A shame but despite this there were some songs that really hit home. The first one was'World Like That' about half way through the set followed immediately by 'Long Distance' and then a few songs later by 'Black Rabbit' which ended the pre-encore set. All three featured the lead guitarist who really got going with these tracks. The five song encore also delivered a couple of excellent songs, 'Underdog(Save me)' and 'Feeling Oblivion'. The lead vocalist has a good singing voice and delivered without constraint. A good gig marred by the sound for those of us at the speaker.

Rheingans Sisters - 8 March 2023

Took a punt on this gig as I do like siblings singing harmony but actually they didn't do a lot of that. Mainly they played fiddle with occasional excursions into banjo, a whistle or a strange French stringed instrument played with a short wooden stick. It was very good, in the style of traditional folk (British, French and Swedish mainly) overlaid with a modern unusual delivery. I liked it a lot, it dragged you in. But first we had a surprise pre gig show in the cafe from the Bristol Folk Singers an acapella choir who gave us a few songs whilst we ate. That was nice. The Rheingans played mostly from their latest album, played mostly as a fiddle duo and sang on some of the songs. Both had nice pure voices and a hypnotic fiddle style that I enjoyed. Anna R lives in France and contributed some French songs and had spent time in Sweden so we also had some from there. We had actually seen Rowan R before at St Georges as part of a band playing with Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita. The gig was something a bit different to the usual and I would go and see them again.