Will Pound & Jenn Butterworth, Traverse

 This had everything I could want from a gig.  Virtuoso performances, wonderful tunes and songs, and madcap humour.  

Pound is a harmonica genius, and not far behind that on the melodeon. Butterworth is the consummate accompanist, on guitar and stomp, as well as being a quality vocalist. It was a set of variety. Trad material in the main, but not as you'v eheard it before. New tunes, mixtures of fast, slow, and more fast.  Tunes from England, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, Spain…  Improvisations that made you wonder how many different variations on a simple melody line could there possibly be? Plus songs from Jenn’s upcoming solo album, with sympathetic backing, and solos, from harmonica.

And very funny, very unpredictable, and solidly on the left of politics.  What’s not to like?

Detained (A Play, a Pie and a Pint), Traverse

 Yemi (Titana Muthui) has been detained in a detention centre for refugees and asylum seekers.  Bea (Laura Lovemore), , her best friend eventually visits.And what’s the big difference between them?  A UK passport.

The threat of deportation hangs over Yemi, and months will pass as her solicitor works to get her free.  And, more importantly, prevent her being sent back to South Africa where a far worse fate awaits her. But Bea is a narcissist, and insists on relating her trivial probllsms, what she perceives to be her 'suffering', than to listen to her friend. And it takes further trauma for Yemi before she realises just how serious the situation is.

It's a low key script, with not a lot happening, a reflection of the tedium of incarceration. There are few laughs, mostly low level embarrassment for Bea's lack of self awareness. Muthui is convincingly despairing, but Lovemore took time to warm up, and looked a bit lost in the opening 20 minutes.

That tedium has it's uses though, bringing home the pojt of the asylum system. Dehumanising, threatening, boring, and designed to keep inmates (who may have done nothing wrong) in a constant state of anxiety. And, with Yemi’s case, a reminder that everyone who migrates has their own individual reasons, sometimes from circumstances that may be hard to explain.  They can put their own loved ones at risk if they divulge too much.

Not a sparkling addition to the PPP canon, and it’s a subject that really needs much more than 50 minutes, but it provides a decent stab at raising awareness of how terribly the UK behaves towards people seeking a new start in life, and how little understanding of their plight there really is.

The Manfreds, Queens Hall

We saw The Manfreds in Musselburgh about two years ago, and not much has changed since I wrote that review, which you can read here.  

The same line up of msicians, including Jones and McGuiness from the original 60s Manfred Mann line up.  Much the same set list as well, which meant mostly numbers dating back to those sixties days, plus a few blues outriders.  A Ben E King number included a memorable flute solo from Simon Curry, and channeling Howlin' Wolf brought out the best of Paul Jones's harmonica abilities.  There was the odd solo from each member of the sextet as well, notably from Marcus Cliff.

The set also included some material from McGuiness' late band, McGuiness Flint, and it was one of those, When I'm Dead and Gone, that really brought the audience to life and from then on they joined in with everything.  Those old Mann hits were certainly catchy!

Paul Jones' voice is in it's declining years, and can sound strained and a bit off key at times.  But he remains a charismatic front man, with great phrasing and that wonderful blues harmonica in his repertoire.  McGuiness remains as good a guitarist as ever - understated, sparse, but capable of sudden surprise and runs.

Yes, this is an act trading on nostalgia, and playing to a audience of (moslty) pensioners.  But they still have the musical chops and sheer enjoyment needed to create a good night of music.

The Outrun

I always dread seeing a film version of book I loved, but having heard Liptrot speak about it beforehand reassured me. That the character is Rona, not Amy, and is based on , but is not quite, her.  That cinematic necessity meant rewriting parts of her life, but to a positive end.

Rona (Saoirse Ronan) grew up on Orkney, with a wildly bipolar father and a mother who could barely cope.  When the chance arises, Rona escapes to London, where a promising career lies ahead.  As does a social life, and the discovery that she has an addictive personality.  The descent into alcoholism destroys career, relationships and health.  She begins her recovery, but needs to get away, and finds herself back on Orkney.

Where she battles through her recovery, with help, and conflict, and a brief relapse, and the power of nature.  She must still contend with her ever-variable father, and her mother who has not just found a god, but has become the happy-clappiest of christians.  But mostly she has to contend with the wild landscape and weather, and, strongest of all, her inner conflicts.

Like Rona’s mind, the film skips about, between present, childhood, and the London days, of addiction and realisation.  This highlightsthe contrasts between the bleak existence she led as an addict, and bleak existence the land forces upon her.  And it’s the latter which wins out, and heals.

A memorable performance from Ronan, vulnerable, scared, wild and unpredictable.  

Fairground Attraction, Usher Hall

The concert opened with support act Scott Matthews, a solo singer/songwriter.  He has an exciting voice with a wide range, and some interesting arrangements and instrumentation.  Several songs had intriguing lyrics, but lacked any real melodic identity.  Enjoyable enough at the time, but unmemorable.

Fairground Attraction featured the original 4 members of the band, plus Roger Beaujolais on glockenspiel and Graham Henderson on (mostly) piano accordion. The opening line, from guitarist Mark Nevin, was  “We are not a tribute band”!

Their set featured a mix of newer material and spme familiar classics from their 80s heyday. But the old stuff still sounded fresh too.  Partly through new arrangements, but mostly because Eddi Reader’s vocal technique has advanced greatly over the decades, with jazz and folk sensibilities developing her pop instincts.  Her scat singing, and Edith Piaf impression, were highlights.  

A wonderful mix, decent enough musicianship, catchy tunes, and that soaring voice. It was well worth them getting together again.

Note to self - avoid gigs at the Usher Hall when possible, at least for this kind of event.  The audience were not the musically literate kind we are used to, and too many behaved as if they hadn’t been allowed out for years, and nobody else mattered but them.  Talking during songs, leaving and returning during songs, blocking others view, clapping off the beat, singing off key.  So irritating…

Lost Girls/At Bus Stops (A Play, a Pie and a Pint), Traverse

Jess and Iona, out for a good time in a bustling Fringe-laden Edinburgh.  Friends for a long time, almost but not quite lovers for just as long.  A love letter to the city, through closes the arteries, up and down hills.  Fringe venues, bars, clubs.  And bus stops.

It’s a  lively script, jumping around through the night, through the places,through histories, between two povs.  A few extra characters thrown in.  A will they, won’t they love story.

Except… we know they will.  Despite the jumping around, and the implications of uncertainty, the ending is always well telegraphed.  And that makes it feel like a long and at times unnecessary journey.  There are a few laughs, even a hint of sadness, anger, but it’s all too predictable despite those elements.

A shouty Catriona Faint plays Jess - more aggressive, wilder, likely to cause trouble (as wit a bouncer)

Leyla Aycan’s Iona is  quieter, more introspective, but loves the contrast between them.

But upsetting to an Edinburgh audience to have someone who is supposed to be so familiar with the city pronouncing Cowgate like an English tourist!

Anna / Anastasia (A Play, a Pie and a Pint), Traverse

 Anna (Kirsty McDuff) has been rescued after jumping off a bridge in 1920s Berlin.  Franz (Chris Forbes), a police detective, has the job of finding out who she really is.  But what is he to make of her claim to be the last surviving member of the Romanovs, the despotic rulers of Russia before the revolution?

Anna - or the Princess Anastasia? - will come back into his life over the years,always with a story to tell.  Are her stories true>  And does it really matter (except to a policeman…)

McDuff plays the younger Anna as a manic child, who softens her edges, but never loses her edge, over the decades.  Forbes plays the straight man for the most part, but has some wonderful comic moments when playing the entire Romanov family, and their firing squad, as the executions took place.  And Franz learns something of life from the intriguing Anna.

While there are plenty of laughs, and moments of real pathos, the story does build towards a more serious point of reflection.  We are who we present ourselves to the world as.  Sometimes that can be to hide from the hurt of our past, or maybe it’s just to be who we prefer to be, or to not succumb to society’s image of the ageing process.  We all need to tell stories.  Anna (or Anastasia) is an extreme example (and based on the real story of Anna Anderson), but Franz also learns that he can be more than he seems, if that’s who he wants to become.  We all can. 

An excellent demonstration of just how much power a fifty minute comedy drama can exert.