The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) with the Bristol Ensemble - 27 February 2024

Another classic film with live accompaniament this time from the Bristol Ensemble. They included violin, viola, cello, bass, oboe, piano, frnech horn, other brass and a hard-working (for this film) percussionist. This music adds immeasurably to the impact of the film and they were fantastic for all 110 minutes of the film.

Seth Lakeman - 26 February 2024

I was wondering whether to include this as it was a livestream. I was unable to make the Bristol leg of the tour so it was good to sit down in real time and watch the Chester gig a few days after. It was a Kitty Jay 20th Anniversary tour so the first half consisted of that album and the second set involved songs from the rest of his career including a few from 'Fields of Freedom' which is a great album. From that I enjoyed as ever 'The Colliers' - a stirring song. The first half finished with the manic fiddle playing of 'Kitty Jay' the title track to the album. Other than that 'Race to be King' stood out and the musicianship of the band was first class with Alex Hart on background vocals and various instruments and Benji Kirkpatrick playing a mean guitar and other string instruments - mainly a Bouzouki. Seth himself was on fiddle, guitar and bouzouki but mainly the first two. He is a very good fiddle player as shown in style on Kitty Jay and a set of jigs in particular. I must try and make the real live gig next tour but this will at least serve as a reminder to do so.

Catrin Finch & Aoife Ni Bhriain - 15 February 2024

A welcome second opportunity to hear this spectacular duo after their gig last year at Acapela prior to recording their album. Catrin does lots of collaborative work and this is an outstanding combo. Aoife is an Irish fiddle player who has a compelling style - with a sort of screechy element like the sound you'd expect in a remote shebeen. She is very very good and the two of them weave patterns of rhythm and melody that you get lost in. They started both halves with a little bit of Bach which melded into their own compositions all of which started with a 'W'. 'Woven' near the end was outstanding incorporating some Irish influences and Welsh ones but actually it was all outstanding. I remember 'Wings', 'Whispers', 'Waggle', 'Wandering', 'Waves' and 'Wish' - all simply outstanding. Luckily we have tickets for a July gig back at the Acapela. I feel privileged.

Transatlantic Sessions - 8 February 2024

The annual TS gigs are always a joy and this one was also our first visit to the Bristol Beacon since it reopened after 6 years closed. The house band was extended formally to include Alison de Groet on banjo and Tatania Hargreaves on fiddle althought they also featured extensively last year. That makes the band eleven strong and of course there were also four guest vocalists. The opening tune was as usual 'Waiting for the Federals' and then the first guest vocalist came on - Lynsey Lou, who was difficult to pigeonhole except to say that she was somewhere on the Americana scale. Kim Carnie was next up and she was the cream of the guests for me. Like a softly spoken version of Karen Matheson, she sang in gaelic and the band were clearly enjoying the songs as was I. Joshua Burnside from Northern Ireland was the third vocalist and his songs and playing were also top notch. Last up was Carlene Carter of that family who brought some country into the occasion. It was interesting to hear four very different vocalists only one of which was 100% in the folky camp. Meanwhile in between the vocalists there were various band tunes with different combinations of musicians. I enjoyed a trio knocking out some great tunes with Alison and Tatania accompanied by Mike McGoldrick and of course Phil Cunningham wrote and led a sad air 'Melody for Eve' with the fiddles prominent. The second half started with a song from the bassist Daniel Kimbro about the astronaut Michael Collins and then Jerry Douglas had his usual spot and the fiddle players and Mike McG on pipes and whistles also had their turns. The main set finished with Carlene Carter singing 'Ring of Fire' written of course by her grandma and then the encore with just the band playing tunes that got faster and faster and another great Transatlantic Sessions gig was done. Only a year to wait - I just hope they come back to Bristol.