An evening with a Scotsman, an Englishman and an Irishman that doesn't need a punchline. Three longstanding stars of the contemporary folk scene, they have made several tours together and cut both a live and a studio album. Each brings their experience and influences from their work with some of the most renowned bands in Celtic music, such as the Battlefield Band, Lunasa and Solas. Each is regarded as a top class instrumentalist and composer in their own right.
They delivered two well balanced sets, a smart mix of fast and slow, tunes and songs, old and new. The opening slow air which swiftly morphed into something much more rapid and foot tapping was typical of what the gig held in store.
McCusker swaps between fiddle, bouzouki, whistles and harmonium, McGoldrick plays whistles, flute and uilleann pipes, with Doyle on Guitars, bouzouki and vocals. The two Johns do most of the talking, introducing numbers, explaining titles, telling stories, and providing laughs along the way, McGoldrick quieter but he did have one excellent tale of why, as a teenager, he was led to believe that playing Irish music was more lucrative than he'd expected....
The music is polished, exciting, and there are times when McGoldrick's improvisations on flute or pipes produce a physical thrill in the listener. Underpinning these fireworks, Doyle's stringplay is mesmeric and his constant chord changes and sprinkled notes are the key to the complexity of the overall sound. Like a twenty-first century Bothy Band, there's a richness to the arrangements that takes the listening experience way beyond the simplicity of the melodies.
The Irishman sings with a smoothly polished brogue that suits a wide variety of songs. He used the well known shanty Billy O'Shea to get the audience involved and close the first set, while the band's arrangement of Banks of the Bann provided the encore and showed how beautifully they can provide a fresh take on such well known material.
Celtic folk at it's best.
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