Singing all our blues away
Victoria Olson
THE FASTLINERS: Don Holderness and Kevin Coffey belting out the blues at the finale concert
THE best way to finish off a Blues Weekend experience is to attend the finale concert in the Stromness Hotel on Sunday night.
The only ticketed event of the whole festival, which helps pay for the weekend, it attracted a big crowd who packed out the function room to hear all the visiting acts and one local group in one concert.
Naomi Mather was up first, with her truly amazing voice sounding beautiful when belting out in the blues or in the quieter, breathy moments of her songs.
The theme of regret is prevalent in her music but she also played a ‘naughty’ song about sneaking, around behind a partner’s back and, to prove that she didn’t think all men were bad, Can’t Do Nothing (when you’re on my mind) which did put at least one man in a more positive light.
Naomi Mather
Naomi called herself a ‘poly-guitarist’ and lived up to her self-imposed nickname by regularly changing between her acoustic, resonator and lap steel guitars. This gave each of her songs a different feel, with the appropriate use of the slide adding an authentic delta blues feel.
She said: “You’ve been a great audience, I’ve really enjoyed playing for you. It’s been a great weekend.”
Glasgow singer songwriter John Alexander was up next, a performer who makes a big sound for one man and his guitar. He had a lovely smooth voice, perfect for singing the blues, and injected it with a healthy dose of the soul that all great musicians need.
He played songs about his travels, missing where you are from and even a few that tackled theme of death; his own Let Me Die and a number by Blues legend Lead Belly.
Stand outs for me included Don’t Give It Up, Making Waves and I Will Be, a song about the resilience of the characters who worked at the Clyde shipyards on the Clyde and how they carried on regardless when that work started drying up.
John Alexander
He finished his set with When the Wind Blows, an emotive country blues number which he dedicated to Orkney.
“I’ve had a lovely time in Orkney” said John. “I don’t know about the weather though, I can get that back home, but I had a good time rolling through the mud at the Tomb of the Eagles today”
“You certainly get a real sense of community up here, I’ve had a good laugh. You have your own sense of time being on an Island. I had a bit of a late night last night, there was a lot of dodgy dancing going on; it’s good to see that’s something you get everywhere, even in Stromness.”
After a quick swap around of equipment, local band The Fastliners took to the stage. This new five-piece are Kevin Coffey on vocals, Don Holderness on guitar and saxophone, Pete Thomas on bass, Kenny Pirie on drums and Mike Fairbairn on harmonica and slide guitar.
Once the bands come on it doesn’t take long for the dancers to come out and The Fastliners started a trend that would carry on for the rest of the night – the dance floor was rarely empty.
They got a great reaction from the crowd as they hammered out tunes from various blues eras, including Let Me Go Home Whiskey, All Around the World and Let The Four Winds Blow.
Kevin can really belt out the blues numbers and he looked the part with his Elvis-esque hip wiggling. Mike took time out from his with virtuoso harmonica playing to sing On the Road Again, and Don also took over singing duties for I Just Wanna Be Your Lovin’ Man.
Other highlights were Train Kept A Rolling, starting with another fantastic harmonica solo from Mike, and their ballsy version of Who Do You Love, which ended their set with a bang.
Perthshire rockers Wang Deng Delta were up next, to play a blistering set of jazz and funk inspired blues.
The band are Pete Caban on lead guitar and backing vocals, Jim Harcus on harmonica, Ian McLaren on vocals and acoustic guitar, Pete Nicol on bass and backing vocals, Pim Pirnie on drums and percussion and Alan Sutherland on keyboards.
Ian McMaren from Wang Dang Delta
Lively original tracks such as The Honey Man, Smiles on your Face and Tropical Storm, dedicated to weatherman Michael Fish, shoe with amazing guitar riffs from Pete Caban and assured vocals from Ian.
As he was introducing New for Old Ian said: “ Orkney has history that Perth doesn’t have, because the council allowed it all to be knocked down.”
He also dedicated the pointed Faultfinder Blues to anyone to likes to pick holes in other people – unless they are performing surgery, in which case it’s acceptable.
They finished their exciting and varied set with couple of slower and rather funky numbers, including the excellent Empty Folks, followed by the rockier Like a Boomerang I Hope You Will Be Coming Back Some Day.
Ian told Orkney Today: “We’ve had a great time, everyone has been so welcoming and it’s good to get the chance to hear some of the young bands. I’m really impressed with them.
“It’s been great to get to mix with the other musicians throughout the weekend. Our bass player was here with a previous band in 1991, but for five of us this is the first time we’ve been up to Orkney – we’ve had such a great time we’ll definitely be back.”
It was getting late by the time headliners the Roy Mette band came on stage, but that didn’t stop the crowd from getting even livelier.
Roy Mette
When Roy played at the first Blues Weekend in 2006 he played an impressive solo acoustic set. This time he was electric in more ways than one, his polished guitar playing and powerful vocals were perfectly complemented by Andy Bostock’s bass and Wayne Bronze’s drums.
From the moment the band started playing, the crowd was going wild. If the extra loud cheers or the enthusiastic dancing didn’t give it away, the chants of `Roy, Roy, Roy’ would have done it.
Playing a set of original numbers and a selection of songs by Rory Gallagher, it was a lively gig that didn’t let up until the wee hours of the morning.
When asked if he’d enjoyed his Blues Weekend, Roy said: “It’s been great. For me, it’s totally different being up this time because I’m with my band but we’ve enjoyed it very much. It’s always a bit of a culture shock coming up here, but it is nice.”
He said the highlight of the weekend was when the rain stopped: “Although, it was lovely on Saturday. Really, it’s nice to have been part of it, I enjoyed that. I’ve seen a good few local bands, or bits of most of them, and they sounded pretty good.”
Blues committee chairman Graham Bevan, who acted as compere for the night, thanked everyone for coming out and supporting the Blues Weekend. He gave a special thank you Colin Dreyer for looking after the sound throughout the weekend and Alistair Morton for doing the lighting during the final concert.
Blues committee coordinator Walter Gorman, in a voice that was definitely feeling the effects of too many growls over the weekend, added his thanks to everyone who helped with any aspect of the festival: “It’s been a good weekend. It’s a team effort that makes the Blues Weekend happen; from the bands to the people who help move equipment around all weekend. It’s important to remember that.”
Tags: Review