TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

The full tour has now been announced.  :)

The Lady: A Homage to Sandy Denny

With special guests Maddy Prior, Thea Gilmore, Joan Wasser (aka Joan As Police Woman), Dave Swarbrick, Jerry Donahue, PP Arnold, Lavinia Blackwall, Sam Carter, Blair Dunlop, members of Bellowhead and others

19 May Liverpool Philharmonic Hall  0151 709 3789  
20 May Nottingham Royal Centre  0115 989 5555  
21 May Brighton Brighton Dome  01273 709709  
22 May Coventry Warwick Arts Centre  024 7652 4524  
23 May London The Barbican  020 7638 8891  
24 May Basingstoke The Anvil  01256 844244  
27 May Gateshead The Sage Gateshead  0191 443 4661  
28 May Manchester Bridgewater Hall  0161 907 9000

www.musicbeyondmainstream.org.uk
www.sandydennyofficial.com

Grrrr.  A month before we get back to the UK...

Otherwise I'd be signing up for Basingstoke.

I'm particularly looking forward to hearing Joan Wasser singing Sandy...

Anyone fancy coming to the Nottingham gig with me?

I'm up for that one Ames ;D (Me and MrsP) would be good to sit with other Tawers

Dave P [;-) {:-)

Just got to get Mrs Brendan convinced, shouldn't be difficult they are all her box sets!

Tickets booked for Bridgewater Hall Manchester
Thanks for the info

B*gg*r, Manchester is whilst we are in New Orleans.

Yay !!! someone has bought me a ticket as a present for Warwick Arts Centre  ;D ;D me very happy !!

C x

Woo hoo, a gig in Coventry! That's where I'll be going.

Drinkies then? :)

C x

The Dome! We last saw Sandy there, perfect!

I might be able to make the Warwick Arts Centre gig......

I hear that Green Gartside (Scritti Politti etc) has now been added to the line-up.

I'm certainly going to the Barbican show. Might try to get to one of the other venues as well.

I'll check we're free and book up Warwick.

Can't help wondering if this (or some variation on this) might be at Cropredy (and perhaps that's what Bellowhead meant when they suggested they were going to be there?)

tickets for the Anvil on thier way to me  ;D  

Might try to make the Brighton one.

Tickets for Liverpool in my hand, should be interesting :)

Saw the last version of this a couple of years ago and this line-up looks even better - from memory, only Jerry and Patsy (PP) from that ensemble. Patsy blew the Festival Theatre away with her still wonderful voice.

Ticket booked for Warwick  {:-)

The opening of The Lady - A Homage to Sandy Denny Tour, from the Liverpool Philamonic Hall, reviewed in our live section. http://www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazine/SandyDennyLive.html

Appetite thoroughly whetted.. Great review!  :)

Thanks.  Looking forward to the Barbican.

Brighton tomorrow, don't know whether to look...

Oh do take a look Andie! It's a fabulous review. Roll on Warwick on Tuesday. It's going to be a great one to remember, I'm sure.  ;D

The Anvil on Thursday and looking forward to it.

Great review... so wishing I could be at one of these concerts :(

Looking forward to Wednesday night at the Barbican

Me too,  ;D. Line up looks great!

Back from the Nottingham show.. Review tomorrow...

I made a compilation from the 19 CD boxed set of tracks with just Sandy accompanying herself on piano, to play in my car - quite wonderful!

After spending a stunning night at Farnsfield Acoustic in the company of Martyn Joseph and Stewart Henderson, we were full of anticipation for The Sandy Denny gig at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall.. what a contrast!

It was a very ambitious show to say the least...  musicians from various backgrounds and from little known to legends (Maddy and Swarb and Jerry D) were all on stage either in small groups or together.

I was never lucky enough to see Sandy live, so it was well worth going to this show, I had high expectations. There were many highlights...  Maddy's Fotheringay was lovely; a cheer and an ahhh went up when five year old (yes 5 yr old!) son of Stonier came on to play second fiddle (can't remember the song).. and he has rhythm that lad!  Swarb received the loudest applause each time he came on stage.  

There were a few low lights too...  but mostly that was down to personal taste.. though I will mention just the first one...  The show opened with A Sailor's Life.. the drums were far too loud and totally overpowered Swarb's fiddle.. it was disappointing and I hoped it wasn't setting the scene for the rest of the night.  Thankfully it didn't.

I had a chat with Ashley H on the merch ...  (Blair was excellent)...  and came home glad that I'd been, but not exactly wanting to rush out for a repeat. The songs that seemed to work best (IMHO) were those when the band was stripped down, with just 2/3/4 players, though the finale (WKWTTG) was a showpiece for everyone.

Thanks for that Jen, I think that's more the sort of review I was expecting! I'm looking forward to tonight in Brighton, I love all Sandy songs, and there will be many of my favourite musicians there, but... I was lucky enough to have seen Sandy several times, the last one at the Dome on that final tour, and I go with very mixed feelings.

Barbican for me too. TAW meet?

The Two Brewers on the corner of Whitecross St and Fortune St serves a decent pint.

Very much looking forward to Coventry tomorrow. I still can see her in my mind, on stage with that cheeky laugh and a flock of wild auburn hair (not forgetting the voice ::) )

C x

Sounds good to me. Anyone else?

The word on FB is that the BBC are filming the Barbican show.  :)

That's also the word in the concert programme  :)

The show got a standing ovation from a full house at the Brighton Dome last night, and the company wisely declined to play an encore or even take curtain calls - it's hard to imagine what could have followed the final ensemble performance of WKWTTG.

I agree with Amethyst that the most effective performances were the stripped-down ones - Maddy's Fotheringay, or The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood with three unaccompanied female singers and a plaintive coda from Swarb.  There were no real low points for me, every song was a revelation in one way or another.

One little niggle - why is this in the Fairport Convention section of this site, when Sandy only spent a couple of relatively short periods of her career with the band and spent much of it trying to shake off the "folk singer" label?  (ducks)

Mainly because the show includes an interest for fans of the band as well as two ex-members and a third apparently on the merchandise table.

No need to duck though ;D

Neil

A wonderful evening at the Warwick Arts Centre. Attended the pre-show talk which was very interesting, despite the fact that the sound quality was poor (owing to the fact that the interviews were conducted many years ago and the tapes have suffered in the intervening years).

The show opened with "A Sailor's Life" sung by Lavinia Blackwall. A stunning rendition, IMO. Other highlights were Maddy Prior, Thea Gilmore, His Swarbness (naturally), Jerry Donahue, The Bellowhead crew and Nick Pynn. Most of the others were, umm, so-so I thought.  :-X

It was a lovely evening all told, and I very glad I was there. Young Stonier went down a storm. I was in the front row, and he was right in front of me. There was nearly a kidnap moment!  :o ;D

Good to catch up with a certain Chris Bates, photographer of this parish.

A night to remember.  8)

It was all wonderful last night at the Barbican. A line up of fantastic musicians and performers. Maddy forgot some lyrics and started the song again after saying "I need to start again as I can't blag my way through this one..." But when she did it was Maddy at her very best.

 PP Arnold also started her first song again twice due to a bad attack of nerves but once she got going it was amazing. She is offering a free download from her webpage of 'Take me away.'

http://www.pparnold.com/

Loved the 'backing' band and had no idea what a fantastic piano player  Andy Mellon from Bellowhead is!

A lot of great talent on that stage last night starting with young Stonier, aged 5 who has a good stage presence.  ;)

Chris Bates was there again watching not taking pics. The BBC cameras were in full force though. The only slight thing that spoilt it, from the side seating area was the Beeb camera guy on stage, sometimes standing in front of the artistes!!

Yes, it was wonderful indeed from the back row of the stalls in what must be the most comfortable seats in the house - great sound and performances from everyone. I was aware of the camera on stage but was not unduly bothered.

A super evening at the Barbican. Wonderful to hear Sailor's Life which I had never heard live despite it being the first Fairport track I ever heard. Though highlight was Quiet joys of brotherhood. Worth the price of admission for that alone

It was certainly a memorable gig for me. I particularly enjoyed Maddy Prior and Thea Gilmore.

Sympathetic review in the FT here http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/08a1bee8-a413-11e1-84b1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1vuqpEocD

and an unsympathetic one in the Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/live-music-reviews/9288203/Homage-to-Sandy-Denny-Barbican-review.html

I think that the Telegraph review is absolutely disgraceful - to put it mildly. Just who does this man Irwin think he is? >:(

I realised tody that the last time I saw PP Arnold live was at the Windsor Blues Festival in 1967 - just after Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, and I took some super 8 silent movie of that which is still somewhere in our loft!

The performance ran for just under 2 1/2 hours at the Barbican, we spoke briefly to Swarb out in the street, who told us he was staying at The Thistle Hotel but he didn't seem sure which one - I think there are 2 or 3 in London - he said he would phone the hotel to find out.

The person in Row R of the stalls who coughed every few minutes has passed on their infection to me.  Weekend in bed, missing important annual event at work.  Thanks.

jaysus ye have to suffer for art :D

I think it has to be counted as an occupational hazzard of concert-going that if you are in a packed 1,900 capacity venue you may well inadvertently catch something.

I met marg my wife at a concert ... Be warned  :o

I met my wife in a night club, I was surprised, I thought she was at home looking after the kids!!  (Thank yew, the old ones are best!!) ::)

Was that an establishment formerly known as a "disco", or an upmarket establishment formerly known as a nightclub - and who know's what they are called now?

I don't think knows should have an apostrophe ::)

If I may drag discussion back to the topic...  ;)

Here's my review of last week's gig at the Barbican:
http://sandydenny.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/lady-at-barbican.html

Nice review, Philip. I may be wrong about this, but I'm not sure it's quite accurate to call PP Arnold an "American visitor": I think she's lived here for over 40 years.

I mainly knew of her through her excellent work with the Small Faces and until I saw her the other night I hadn't realised she was American!

I never knew about her connection with the Small Faces, I'll have to ask Kenny Jones about it next Mexican night at Hurtwood Park!

You're quite right, Peter. Thanks for pointing it out. I'll change it.

Speaking of corrections, I'm pleased to see the Financial Times has responded to criticism and corrected the howler in the first sentence of their review.

fabulous show last night at the bridgewater hall, set listwas the same as the barbican shows,i dont suppose there is much scope for changing the set in a show like this. Loads and loads of highlights,from the opener "a sailors life",  "john the gun", "Matty", "Quiet joys" with swarb and PP Arnold's set.
   The band were great and never missed a beat all night
only gripe: someone tell Bair Dunlop not to stick his hands in his pockets for the finale, it looked bloody awful

I think PP Arnold recorded with The Nice (before they were called that?)...

 i think the nice were formed to be her backing band

Memory malfunction again: I only remember The Nice playing frantic instrumentals. I must investigate that box in the attic...

I don't recall any recordings from PP Arnold & The Nice (there's a suggestion she named them). She'd split from the band by the time they recorded their first album.

Here's what I just scribbled down on FB. Was slightly dreading the gig actually, but I really enjoyed it.  Anyone know why Swarb didn't stay to t'end?

"Outstanding 'homage' to Sandy last night at the Bridgewater...last night of the tour. Never the greatest idea to start with the best performance of the night (Lavinia Blackwall doing A Sailor's Life - the 2nd best version of this I've ever heard...the early years FC performance at the Barbican in 2009 surely has to top it), but there were many highlights throughout...Joan Wasser and Green Gartside surprised and delighted, I was totally won over by Thea Gilmore, and PP Arnold belted out Like an Old Fashioned Waltz in a style which thrilled but I can't say quite convinced me. Only real miss of the evening (and by a country mile) was Maddy Prior whose Fotheringay and John the Gun simply didn't work. Wrong voice, wrong songs, wrong dress, embarrassing dancing. Enough said. Having said that Maddy *very* nearly redeemed herself with some exquisite harmony on the Quiet Joys of Brotherhood in the 2nd half. Swarb seemed semi-detached from the ensemble...although nearly made me cry on the QJoB and didn't appear at the end sadly. Quite possibly one of the best Matty Groves I've ever heard too (from Ben Nicholls). The Bellowhead boys proved there is a whole lot more to them than the one trick pony band (it's a feckin' good trick, of course) they belong to... Surprise of the night for me was Blair Dunlop. Sans his excellent Albion Band I thought he might be a tad twee. He was far from it. Top, top gig. "

I seem to recall that it is P P Arnold's daughter whose voice is featured on America by the Nice?

I also seem to think that The First Cut is the Deepest was the first hit record on which Rod Stewart featured (playing harmonica) but this is probably an urban myth of Baker Street proportions?

I was at the Bridgewater Hall last night too, and so glad I was!

I too loved Lavinia's "A Sailor's Life" (and her frock!).  I thought Maddy's "John the Gun" was fantastic - she put her all into it.  My tingle factor moment was Maddy, Lavinia and Thea Gilmore singing "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" with minimal accompaniment from Swarb.  I started off in the Choir Circle (on my own) but some friends who were in the 4th row of the stalls said there was an empty seat next to them, so I was much closer to the action in the second half!



Nice to see Jim and Scouser Tommy of this parish there too. Jim - I agree with you about Blair Dunlop and the pockets!

was there mouth organ on first cut? not on the version i remember. i know there was the myth that rod played it on millie's My boy lollipop

Patsy (PP) has an excellent website, with her journey through music detailed by decade:
http://www.pparnold.com/Articles/The-Journey-1964-1970.html

I agree about Blair and his flaming pockets an' all! I was sitting dead in front of him as it goes, and could barely resist the temptation to tell him to tidy himself up. LOL! Very unprofessional attitude, I thought. He looked bored stiff! Okay, rant over.

I loved Maddy, Thea, Lavinia, The Band etc. PP Arnold is not really my cup of tea, although she does of course have an amazing voice. I know we should not put songs and singers into particular "boxes", but for me PP Arnold and "An Old Fashioned Waltz" just don't go together.  :-\

A great night though!

I don't think it was unprofessionalism I think that's just his laid-back style and usual stage persona. And the good thing about this gig was that everyone approached it as themselves rather than trying to be a Sandy Denny era Fairport tribute act. Maddy for example was 100% her usual self on stage, but singing Sandy songs rather than Maddy songs.

Fair enough Darren, but I think a laid back style is one thing - looking as though he wished he could just go home is quite another. That's how it seemed to me from the front row at Warwick Arts Centre anyhow. I have to confess that I might have forgiven his hands-in-his-pockets habit, had I enjoyed his music more. I didn't.  :-X

I like Blair, he's young, relaxed, obviously has a talent and I think is trying so hard to be himself and not be the 'do you know who I am related to....' act he could be. When I saw him and the Albions at Cromer I thought his jeans needed hitching up over his pants and then I remembered that 'we' are all 'old folk(g)ies' hehe. He doesn't show off and was definitely just part of that band.  {:-)

Loving the background Yobb, it matches my undies today  ;D ;D

What pray is wrong with putting one's hands in pockets when singing backing vocals? It's the voice that matters and his happens to be very good - at least he doesn't forget his words ::) ::) ::)

there was a row of about 7 or eight singers all doing their best and himself was there on the end with his hands in his pockets , and it just looked slovenly and out of place.
 if he is so without stagecraft that he doesn't know what to do with his hands onstage, then he should have held a giutar

Hey! Come on Jimbo you ole curmedgeon, it beats a finger in the ear!!!  ;)

Yes indeed!

Quote from interview with Jerry D

I've recently been doing a tour called The Lady which is an homage to Sandy Denny. The idea is to show the breadth of Sandy's music – so we had a range of female singers from various genres like Maddy Prior from Steeleye Span, Thea Gilmore and P.P. Arnold. I'm also involved in producing an album from the tour.

well i'll probably buy it but they need to get these things out quickly otherwise the interweb makes live albums fairly redundant, plus they dont edit

I'll buy it too.