I went to my first concert since Glastonbury on Thursday night. It was to see Seth Lakeman at the Cheese & Grain in Frome. It came about because I bought a CD by Seth about three weeks ago, and the very same week I saw that he was playing in Frome, so it seemed fated that I should go. The album I bought is called Kitty Jay and was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize in 2005. All the songs were inspired by the myths and legends of Dartmoor where Seth lives. It is just the kind of folk-rock sound that I like. Seth is one of three brothers Seth, Sam & Sean Lakeman who have all had successful careers in folk music. His brother Sam is married to a great Irish singer called Cara Dillon who I have written about previously and they actually live in Frome. I thought they might take part in Seth’s gig on Thursday, which is another reason I went along, but there was no sign of them. I should add that I have seen Seth play before when he was a member of Robert Plant’s band. Van Morrison fans might be interested to know that Seth played fiddle on Dangerous the opening track on Van’s most recent album.
On Thursday night a taxi called for me at 7.30. When we got to Frome, I discovered that the annual funfair was on, right in front of the venue where there is usually a huge car-park. As I was a bit early, I had a quick look around the fair. I didn’t go on any of the rides though, they made me feel queasy just looking at them, especially one ride called The Energizer. It was quite amusing watching them though. The Cheese & Grain is the venue where Paul McCartney played a surprise pre-Glastonbury gig at the end of June. I have seen lots of great acts here over the years.
Seth and his band came on stage at 8.30. He is a virtuoso fiddle player, probably the best folk-rock fiddle player I have seen since Dave Swarbrick of Fairport Convention. He also played a variety of guitars during the evening. There was another excellent guitar player called Benji Kirkpatrick who also played banjo, harmonica, bouzouki, and maybe other instruments. On drums and percussion was Dave Smith. Ben Nicholls played upright bass, concertina, and banjo. There was an excellent backing singer called Alex Hart who played harmonium and helped out on guitar as well on some songs. She sang a very enjoyable duet with Seth during the first half of the show. The musicianship was first class, I can’t fault it. My problem was that I’m not familiar with the songs, so I couldn’t make out the vocals. I didn’t know what he was singing about. I think some of the songs were inspired by landscapes and seascapes, some were protest songs, and others were storytelling songs about historical events, but I couldn’t understand the lyrics. That isn’t the fault of the band. I noticed some people in the audience were singing along towards the end of the concert which meant they were a lot more familiar with Seth’s repertoire than me.
It was a stand-up gig. I would have preferred a sit-down event because my feet were aching by the end. I am nearly 71 after all. I did have a sit down outside during the interval and had a chat with a couple of people who said they couldn’t make out the words either. I had brought my notebook along to write down a setlist but gave up on that. The only two songs that I’m pretty confident I knew were called Bury Nights and Setting Of The Sun. I don’t want to give the impression that I didn’t enjoy the concert. I did, the music was great and got very lively towards the end. I filmed one song and shared it below which might give you an idea of what the atmosphere and music was like. I’m glad I went; it made a nice change to get out and about and hear some live music. I’m going to another gig next week, so I’ll tell you all about that soon. Cheers.
