I've
been a fan of Kate Rusby for a number of years but it wasn't until
January this year that I finally got round to seeing her in concert.
The previous year saw her celebrating twenty years of making music
and she marked the occasion by re-recording some favourite
songs from her own back catalogue with various guests, the resulting album being simply titled
“20”.
She
explained all this at the start of her set at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall.
There was no support act but instead we got a good two hours' worth
of music from herself and some special guests including Eddi Reader,
Dick Gaughan and Jim Causley. Her backing band included the likes of
Michael McGoldrick on whistles and John Joe Kelly on bodhran along
with Sarah Jarosz on mandolin and vocals. Kate was in danger of
running out of superlatives when she was introducing all her backing
musicians and guest singers and even said she was going to adopt Dick
Gaughan as an uncle, such is her obvious affection for the man who is
arguably Scotland's greatest political folk singer.
The
songs performed were taken, not surprisingly, from “20” with the
evening starting off with the new version of 'Elfin Knight' though
not with the introduction familiar to those listeners of The Folk and
Acoustic Music Show and previously, Off The Beaten Tracks on the now
defunct Diversity FM. Other highlights included 'Planets', with Sarah
Jarosz on harmony vocals, and 'Bitter Boy' (written about her uncle
and not her ex) where she was joined by festival organiser Donald
Shaw on piano and a string quartet who were used to nice effect on
and off during the evening. Fans of the banjo were in for a treat
with Ron Block being part of the backing band, Ron being best known
for his work with Alison Krauss and Union Station. He showed us that
it is possible for the banjo to be played quietly during a lovely
lullaby, the name of which escapes me.
Where
most singers come on stage with a glass or bottle in hand, Kate came
on with a mug which she assured us contained Yorkshire tea. Seemingly
a member of her crew had managed to find some locally, though I
suspect a large box of Yorkshire tea bags is always packed whenever
Kate heads out on the road. As with so many of us at this time of
year she was suffering a bit from a cough and told us that if we
found that the pharmacy nearest the venue had sold out of cough
mixture it was because it was all in her room backstage. Hopefully
she had shared some with Dick Gaughan as he was suffering in that
department too. But fortunately the linctus had done the trick and
her voice sounded just fine.
Kate
gave herself a break during the evening and left her partner Damien
O'Kane to introduce a set of tunes which included the theme to The
Muppet Show. The end came all too soon and the encore brought
everyone back on stage, that being a total of 17 singers and
musicians. While Kate gave the impression that she felt as if she was
going to be upstaged by some of her famous friends, it was very much
her night and what a first gig it was for me.
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