A strange experience personally, going to a gig in the place where I first learned to swim (many, many decades ago...), but they've done a good job of converting the building into an interesting and characterful venue.
Two support acts tonight, both singer/songwriters offering very different approaches to the craft. Wullie Douglas was full of energy, with a decent enough voice and guitar work, clever lyrics and imaginative arrangements. It's a shame he didn't talk more as it would have been interesting to learn something of the background to his material, but he proved a good warm up. Mixed up the tempoes from gentle ballad to something much rockier, some amusing songs (The Loneliest Guy in the World stood out), and a bit of call and response to get the audience involved. An excellent start to the evening.
He was followed by Aaron Wright who had a more distinctive vocal style, but poor diction which made it hard to grasp what the songs were about, and as he too didn't provide much by way of introductions it's not easy to say what they were about. Nice variety of styles, from folk to blues, and smart guitar arrangements. Amusing pleasant, he could do well as a Lewis Capaldi type.
But the sell out crowd was there to see one woman, and her excellent band. Eddi remains a one-off, an eccentric and often hilarious communicator, passionate about her beliefs, an uninhibited mover, unstructured and unpredictable, and possessed of a voice of soaring abilities which she uses in her own unique phrasing. The band line up is the one she's had backing her for several years now, with a mix of folk and pop backgrounds and influences. Accordion, guitars, ukulele, double bass and the excellent Steph Geremia on flute, whistles and vocals (including taking the lead on one number).
Mostly well known material, singalong at times, with a few new numbers thrown into the mix, and the talismanic Perfect to end on. There's no new ground being broken, and there's no need for it. Reader is as near perfect as she needs to be.
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