Eliza Carthy @ Open
The performance is definitely on a grand scale, with so many individual talents on display
With a career spanning over 25 years in music Eliza Carthy MBE would now surely qualify as part of English folk royalty even if her parents had not been the legendary Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy. As it is, folk music is surely embedded into her very double-helix of D-Nonny-A, and yet she still describes herself as a 'modern British musician'. Tonight's gig in the magnificent Banking Hall at Norwich's Open is part of a short tour with the 11 piece Wayward Band, an all-star collective featuring members from the likes of Bellowhead, Blowzabella, and The Peatbog Faeries, and every one an individual virtuoso.
Having only previously seen Eliza performing with a small band, or alongside her mother or father, I was not prepared for the tumultuous 'hall of sound' that hit us from the very first number. The Wayward Band features the expected mix of fiddles, viola and cello, together with both accordion and melodeon, but also trumpet, trombone, guitar, bass, drums and percussion (I don't think I've left anyone out). The result is a band that can switch at a stroke from sea shanty to folk ballad to brass band, all fronted by Eliza's amazing voice, moves and demonic fiddle playing, and producing an overwhelming collective sense of both passion and fun.
The setlist includes a mix of traditional numbers as well as examples of her own songs, and covers a complete spectrum of genres from the brassy calypso of Mr Walker to rich Mancunian broadside ballads like The Sea, written for the 19th century Irish immigrants. You Know Me a response to today's refugee crisis, reminds us of folk music's continuing commitment to social comment. Great Grey Back is a modern sea shanty written for the British Antarctic Survey team, with its great sing-along chorus, and there is even time for a cover of Rory McLeod's moving Hug You Like a Mountain.
We end with a lively jig and an invitation to leave our seats and dance. Those that accept are joined on the floor by Eliza as she leaps from the stage in one final gesture of musical communion. Comparisons with the mighty Bellowhead are probably too obvious, for this is unmistakably a night of the force that is Eliza Carthy, but the performance is definitely on a grand scale with so many individual talents on display. An unforgettable evening. A quick mention for the support act, too. It was lovely to see local singer Lisa Redford performing at Open, her distinctive voice filling the cavernous banking hall with ease, and accompanied by some beautiful dobro playing from Noel Dashwood (of Dumbfoundus and Feral Mouth). Nice one guys.
9/10
