You are hereMark Radcliffe and Chris Lee with Kirsty Bromley
Mark Radcliffe and Chris Lee with Kirsty Bromley
Tonight saw in the first Bright Phoebus concert of the year over at The Greystones in Sheffield, a concert featuring writer, broadcaster and raconteur Mark Radcliffe along with fellow Family Mahone/Shirehorses guitar/mandolin player Chris Lee, with support from the young South Yorkshire-based singer Kirsty Bromley. Hosted by singer/guitarist Martin Simpson, who also kicked things off with a solo performance of Bachelor Hall, the concert promised to be thoroughly entertaining throughout and succeeded in fulfilling that promise. With the additional treat of having Martin Simpson join both acts at various points in the evening, which I can only imagine would be any musician's dream collaboration, tonight's concert kicked off the New Year and Bright Phoebus in style.
The first of these collaborations came at the end of the opening set by the young singer Kirsty Bromley during her tasteful rendition of Sydney Carter's bleak Crow on the Cradle, to which Simpson added flavour to an otherwise unaccompanied set of songs, mostly from Kirsty's current EP SWEET NIGHTINGALE. Opening with Utah Philips' anthem Singing Through the Hard Times, which was rewarded by some communal singing from the Sheffield audience, Kirsty continued with The Trees They Do Grow High, Eat Drink and Be Jolly and Sweet Nightingale before inviting Martin Simpson up to join her for her final song.
Mark Radcliffe is pretty used to talking, in fact he makes his living from it. Even with a guitar perched upon his lap and a patient sideman sitting comfortably beside him, it's difficult for the Bolton-born former Radio 1 DJ to stop. Fortunately, no one in the audience wanted him to stop, as he regaled the capacity crowd with stories of his life in broadcasting, working with the likes of John Peel and John Walters, introducing David Bowie at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground in the rain and dead dogs floating up the river, together with one or two jokes for the mental joke book. Radcliffe likes to think of nights like this as a lesson in folk music and life coaching.
Along with drinking songs such as Tear It Down, memoirs of student days in Manchester in My Regency Period and songs of unrequited love such as That's All You Need To Know, Radcliffe also read an excerpt from his autobiographical book Reelin' in the Years, which features fifty-three chapters, each named after a song from each year of his life thus far; from Cliff's Move It in 1958 through to Factory by Band of Horses in 2010. Reading from chapter 1984, which celebrates Mr Misery guts' anthem Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, we sat enthralled.
Rounding things off with the drinking song Rolling Home, celebrating Sheffield's seafaring tradition and featuring some excellent mandolin playing by Chris Lee, followed by a final encore of Raggle Taggle Gypsies with Martin Simpson adding some of his inimitable guitar playing, another successful sell-out Bright Phoebus concert came to an end.
Allan Wilkinson
Pics: Phil Carter
Northern Sky
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)