Categories: festivals
Tags: Celtic Connections, concert, Glasgow
Date: 22 January 2007 14:13:30
Hooray, it's that week already. HD is up here, and we're going to lots of Celtic Connections gigs. I'm not sure how often I'll be blogging this week, as obviously taking too many breaks for internet fixes is a bit antisocial of me, but I'll try and drop in and let you know how the gigs are :)
Firstly though, a public announcement - John has requested that I include a link to the gigs that are to be broadcast at a later date for those of you who can't make it, so here it is: Radio Scotland Celtic Connections stuff
So, Saturday was gig#1 for us, so we headed off to the Old Fruitmarket (one of my favourite venues, I saw Michael McGoldrick here last year) and saw the fabulous Shooglenifty. I'd seen them before, at Womad about 10 years ago and then a year or so later at the Swan in Stockwell (now that brings back some memories!), but HD hadn't seen them before. The support act was a Breton big band which I really liked (it included a tuba, something I never thought I'd see at Celtic Connections!), and once again I remembered what I like about CC, which is that the support acts are always really excellent in their own right. Shooglenifty were just as fine as I remember - Angus the fiddle player looks exactly the same (mad, long-haired beardy), all the others have aged somewhat, but the music was uniformly excellent (not to mention very very loud indeed). They also featured for some of the set a female throat singer (whose name I'm afraid I've forgotten) - she's from somewhere inside the Arctic Circle (I forget where exactly), to start with I was thinking a cross between Bjork and Rolf Harris (in a good way!) but then they got her to do a quick piece just on her own, and it was the most stunning vocal performance - completely indescribable. I must find out her name. Anyway, it was a great start to a series of concerts for us, and it also got me a bit nostalgic for London as I had first seen the band with my London friends. Definitely worth getting hold of some of their stuff - well recommended.
Yesterday we went to another gig which I was less sure about. HD has a couple of CDs of the support act, Kathryn Williams, which apparently I'd said I'd liked when he'd played them, but I didn't remember. Anyway I thought she had an amazing voice, really pure and beautiful, and she seemed to go down very well - I guess I'd label her "depressive folk". I enjoyed her banter though, especially at the start when she was making a plea for one of the lighting guys to turn the spotlight down - "I feel like I'm being abducted". The main act was a singer called Isobel Campbell (who used to be in Belle and Sebastian). Her group also featured a male singer with an unfeasibly deep voice, and to start with all their songs sounded like that desperately depressing song that Nick Drake did with Kylie Minogue, and although I liked the sound I wasn't sure I could cope with an hour and a half of it. They did lighten up though, so that by the end I'd say it was more of a quirky Americana sound and I did enjoy it, though I'm not sure I'll be rushing out to buy any of her CDs or anything. That was at the ABC, a converted cinema which now has a couple of stages for gigs. It was my first time there, but it was another good venue I thought. And it had an unfeasibly big glitter ball.
So - 2 gigs down, 5 gigs and a workshop still to go. Hooray!