Categories: uncategorized
Date: 07 March 2010 08:50:17
Yesterday was a wonderful day, when I got to enjoy life. A large proportion of the day was spent engaged in fieldwork, except slightly different research conditions to usual....it involved a trip out to Holy Island and I got to take Third Party along. Whilst part of the day was spent with the main group we were not equipped to walk it over the causeway, so we went with a smaller group over to the Island and had time to wander on our own for a while. This was great as it meant Third Party and I could wander around together, with her taking some great pictures which I might post later.
Lindisfarne has a reputation for being a thin place and there is, I believe, something in the air. Yesterday though I felt nothing spiritual in my visit, but I did get to spend a wonderful day in the fresh air with my daughter. At the moment that is a huge blessing.
In the evening we headed over to Gateshead. Third Party had gotten tickets, for my birthday a while ago, to go and see Seth Lakeman at the Sage. It's the forth time I have seen Seth play and I have to say it's brilliant to see the way he just gets better as time develops. He and his band played a cracking set which was amazing in places and very good in others.
There were a few things about the gig which I think mark him out as something special. Firstly, the diversity of the audience. I don't think I've ever been to an indoor gig which was so like a festival field in terms of the mix of ages and stuff. There were loads of families with young kids there last night, aswell as some teenagers/ twenties, middle aged people and some older folks. It was lovely to be in a space like that enjoying folk with such a wide group of people. Too often, as I have introduced TOH to Show of Hands and Fairport, etc the comment has been made that "this is like being in church with everybody else being really old". The way Seth changes instrument mid song is also something special to behold. His change from 4 string half size acoustic guitar, (probably has a technical name I don't know), or the banjo to the fiddle in a song he is also singing in is something special. For me the use of the double bass and banjo/ mandolin in the band also added something special. Also being a festival performer who is now moving into bigger indoor venues works for him. The venue was all sitting, but his set is not really a set for such sitting down to. As such whilst, as one friend put it, "we were all too bloody British" and so only got on feet right at the end by the end of the set Hall One of the Sage had effectively turned into a festival field.
All in all a brilliant day, and one where God was felt in it. Not in some "spiritual" type way but through the time spent with Third Party, the enjoyment of being out in Gods creation and through enjoying talented artists sharing the huge gifts God had given them aswell as getting some work done. It all worked wonderfully, even down to Third Party having an empty seat next to her at the gig, despite us being in the forth row from the front in an auditorium where the downstairs and first two tiers at the sides and back were full.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw6dPKorOBs&feature=related[/youtube]