Remembering our previous attempts at finding gigs in the Potteries, we set out early and managed to arrive a good 2 hours before the start - so we bagged the best seats and went and had dinner!
It was one of the hottest days for about 100 years (really!) and everybody was feeling it, but the hall filled up nicely and lots of people had brought food and drink, so it felt quite festive. First up tonight were "Loud Mouth Women", in what is becoming a regular slot for them at the end of their summer rehearsals period. "Loud Mouth Women" are a local womens' free access singing group and when they came on, they had to line up in front of the stage because there were so many of them - 34 we counted, plus Mary up front leading. We weren't sure what to expect, and to be honest I was dreading the possibility of the worst kind of church choir performance I used to endure, but when they started their a'capella act singing in an African language a song slightly reminiscent of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", but much better, my hopes were lifted, followed by my spirits and my enjoyment! They sang their hearts out, sometimes in unison, sometimes split into 2, 3 or 4 parts, but always smiling and putting everything into it.
They sang "It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it" (Fun Boy 3/Bananarama version), "We are one" (most appropriately) and a further selection of African style songs, all sung by heart and a'capella. Great stuff.
Eric Cox then introduced Kristina Olsen - I should declare a bias here - I like Kristina Olsen - we caught her twice at the Bridgnorth Festival last year and she made a big impression, and we said then that we would make a point of catching her again if she came within range. Well here she is, and here we are! Ann and Jim had also made the trip, and another couple had come down from Heswall so obviously there is quite a draw.
Kristina chose "Part Time Love" to open and was instantly in trouble with the guitar pickups which continued to give problems all night, but nothing daunted, switch to a microphone and carry on... The song features some complex guitar work not unlike John O'Connell's solo in the middle of "Moondance", and this is her opener - she hasn't even had time to warm up yet, and from where we were sat we could see and hear the expressions and little sounds Kristina makes as she and her guitar communicate with each other, and they with us. Her guitar playing was really intricate, some notes bent sooo far, and lots of well used harmonics too, the whole song is held together by the constant heartbeat on the bass string. Then, for a few moments the guitar is slung round behind her and "Love Kristina" - a short, light-hearted a'capella song. The instrument is returned to favour for the next "Dangerous" - but it probably wished it hadn't been, because she hammers hell out of the strings at times, no wonder she wears plasters on her right hand fingers! It's a great song though, loud and emotional.
My favourite off her last CD - the exquisite title track from "In Your Darkened Room" came next - a much smoother and darker sound, enhanced by the tiny sighs and occasional tuts from Olsen as she continues to wring that guitar. I can't say enough about this song - it grabbed me right inside when I first heard it at Bridgnorth and it continues to grab and twist and pull at me every time I hear it. I don't recall Kristina ever saying anything by way of introduction, but whatever inspired her to write it certainly exerts a major charge and never fails to niggle away at my emotions. Watching Kristina perform it close up here, and later even closer on her live DVD, I suspect she still feels it deep too.
A few songs later the long suffering acoustic was laid aside in favour of the big red one, playing bottle-neck slide blues on Robert Johnson's "Come on in my kitchen", using the bottleneck to suggest more and more of the lyrics as the song progressed, aided by "knowing looks" towards the audience. All this singing was of course peppered with Kristina's own brand of things to say between songs - some of it biographical, a few jokes, a kind of aural blog, including the recipe for her potent cold- relief - hot chilli tea, which she consumed throughout, all of it somewhat more brash than you usually experience in folk clubs. "Didn't think it would happen tonight" concluded the first set ( time for a second brew?) with a bit of audience participation and a really loud vocal.
Part two of the evening commenced with more joy from the Loud Mouth Women - various "Generic African" call and response songs followed by "Don't worry, be happy", "I'll fly away" and the Crystals' "There's nobody like my baby". Finally they sang "We're going home" by The Mighty Zulu Nation and after a few verses they began to parade slowly off and around the side, still singing their joyous song and waving as they went - just brilliant.
Kristina re-appeared with her hair tied up - quite literally as it turned out - she showed us how after the gig - bluesing about on her acoustic again with "Stop Doing So Well" and then "The Truth of a Woman". The 'tween song chat caused some embarassed giggling from around the room when mentioning finding someone to neck in the carpark, and hoots when it moved on to talk of life classes....
"New Love" was a classic Olsen penned song - sometimes you can just tell - maybe there's a batch from a certain time, or perhaps it's just "her" sound, anyway, the next one, a very new song, "Move On" was rather more unique and as the little blue practice guitar had also failed to work with the sound system, came played on the acoustic for the very first time - "character building" as Kristina said afterwards. There were problems with the sound all night, "poltergeists in the pickups" but it didn't seem to harm the performance any - the mikes worked just fine anyway. Only one song with the concertina tonight - "If I stayed" and that short but sweet.
"The Man with the Red Car", then a lovely instrumental played on the red steel guitar "Phoebe's Iceburg" - written on a train and very beautiful indeed - before ending up with "Big O" featuring those Loud Mouth Women again, who, having had 10 minutes to learn the chorus all crammed into the kitchen, may have been a little surprised at the remainder of the lyrics - certainly there were some interesting expressions when light dawned! Plain speaking songs are what you get here, often with pretty complex instrumentation, but always straight forward.
We got 2 encores - "Cry you a waterfall" - a happy/sad song for a departed friend, then the fun filled "Better than TV" which rather understates the level of entertainment Kristina Olsen had provided all evening, with help from the Loud Mouth Women - thank you all very much indeed.
Kristina Olsen returns to the UK in October with cellist Peter Greyling (tour dates here) and Folking About WILL be there!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment