Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings - 25 October 2025

We've not been to as many gigs as usual this year but having these two (this and Larkin Poe) in the space of a week has been extremely joyful. We'd made the trek to Manchester because this was the first tour they have done in the UK since we last saw them fourteen years ago. From start to finish the gig was exquisite, Dave Rawlings is an extraordinary guitar player and Gillian Welch writes amazing songs and sings and plays guitar and it is a recipe for a great gig. They also had a double bass player on the majority of songs. The first set included 'Empty Trainload of Sky', a beuatiful version of 'North Country', a Ryan Adams cover (To be young (is to be sad, is to be high)), a version of 'Ruby' with supreme guitar playing The second set started off with 'Lawman' from the recent album and that was one of those cases where a song has real impact live and you realise how much you like it for the first time. Actually a couple of tracks later and the trick was more or less repeated with 'Hard Times' It's perhaps mostly that they deliver a live version, paced and subtle that is somehow an improvement on the recording. The penultimate song of the second set was 'I hear them all' segueing into 'This Land is Your Land' which they also did in 2011. The encores were special - the first comprised 'Elvis Presley Blues' and a great version of 'Look at Miss Ohio'. The second started with 'Revelator' which I realised I very much wanted to hear as soon as they started and they threw in a final 'extra', I think based on audience enthusiasm of 'White Rabbit'. Great gig - very glad we made the effort.

Catrin Finch & Lee House - 8 October 2025

It was a no brainer to get tickets for this unusual gig, one of a short tour of three, one in North Wales, one in Mid wales and one in Cardiff. As we were on holiday in Ceredigion at the time of the mid-Wales gig we went to the Arts Centre in Aberteifi for this. It consisted of Lee House a sound engineer by trade generating sounds from all sorts of devices electronic and analogue with Catrin Finch on harp of course. Each part was preceded by a short piece of spoken word raising questions about what the self is and how to let go of individual constraints and hang ups. A sort of musical therapy I suppose and the proper approach for me was to get lost in it as much as possible. The harp element was secondaryt much of the time but Ctrin had a couplke of starring roles and they were of course magical as usual. No photo of the performers at their request but here's the stage set up.

Larkin Poe 19 October 2025

One of my favourite bands currently touring so to see them at Bristol Beacon sitting down was a welcome change from the last two times I had caught them in smaller venues, I was surprised to note that it is ten years since I first saw them when they were supporting Elvis Costello. First up was Son Little a singer guitarist who was very enjoyable but quite difficult to categorise. An element of soul in his singing, an RandB feel to his guitar playing and interesting songs to boot. He had a drummer and keyboards guy who was also doing the bass and they were both good too. Larkin Poe had a three piece backing band (drums, keyboards, bass - most of the time) and hit the stage high energy and full of confidence banging out 'Nowhere Fast'. Actually they were high energy all the way to the acoustic part of the gig and followed up with 'Mockingbird' and 'Easy Love'. 'Bluephoria' was another highlight early on - basically the sisters are cracking guitarists and Rebecca sings up a storm as well with plenty of vocals backing from Megan. After another great song, 'Deep Stays Down', this from the 'Blood Harmony' album there was an acoustic set, Bluegrass style with all the musicians around a single microphone. This was a beautiful section starting with 'Southern Comfort' followed by 'Little Bit'. Banjos and Mandolins were involved so pretty much a Bluegrass set up. Back to the electric set with 'If God is a Woman' hitting the spot and then the feisty 'Boltcutters and the Family Name' to finish. A quieter encore of 'Bloom Again' and then that was it. Another great Larkin Poe gig. I fear that they will be hitting big venues sooner rather than later unless the words of 'Little Bit' are still meant.

Roy Harper - 2 October 2025

I foolishly assumed that when I saw Roy Harper six years ago when he was a mere 78 years old that I would not see him live again. Wrong - here I was at the Symphony Hall seeing part 2 of his 'final tour'. I had been warned that he was having trouble with singing the high notes but things looked bleak when he came on stage with a heavy cold but this is Roy Harper and he still managed to deliver an admirable performance assisted by son Nick on guitar. Highlights for me were 'Another Day' early in the set, 'Hallucinating Light' (those two are my favourite Harper songs), 'When an old cricketer leaves the crease' and surprisingly 'I hate the white man' which he had brought back for the times we live in. It was a curtailed version with a couple of verses missing but good to hear all the same. Nick was excellent fitting in with Roy's sometimes unpredictable delivery and playing some superb guitar solos on a couple of tracks including 'Same Old Rock' which was a great finish also because it is a great song and Roy's voice seemed to cope really well with most of it. A slightly maudlin encore of a new song 'I've enjoyed my life' and then there was a raptorous reception before heading off into the Birmingham rain of storm Amy. That must be the last Harper gig I see and I'm glad I did.