| bert jansch and bernard butler at the radisson galway 22nd of july 2004 as part of the Galway Festival of Arts when two axes meet, sometimes it means rock mayhem, endless soli or jamming between two virtuoso. thank goodness neither nor - this is a tale of musical friendship, people on highways and all sorts of other roads. For this, I travelled on roads wide and winding and I have to say this is the kind of music one is entitled to after a long hard day. As in sit down, relax and dream. The venue was appropriate because when it is not a social meeting point for festival goers - and illustrious guests of the past have included Peter O'Toole and... oh him... James Nesbitt, anyway, an impressive gallery of signed portraits testifies famous visitors -, also it is a venue for people who go to the Galway Races which are on this weekend, after the festival and well, a few framed race horse paintings adorn another wall. The racehorses were preparing for their big day, and I have come here to have a fine time, the place is known for being a spa so it had to live up to its reputation.  I haven't gone to many seated concerts in the past, and most of the time I associate those with classical music or conferences, which I do enjoy of course. The last one I went to was Eddi Reader at the Whitla Hall as part of the Queens Festival in Belfast, and I remember that I did enjoy the feeling of sitting down and dreaming to the music. Incidentally, Bernard Butler did work with Eddi Reader and Bert Jansch is from Scotland, just like Eddi. Just like back then, the question arises? How can you make traditional music relevant to our days? And the biggest question of all, how to achieve writing songs with character? Bernard Butler is part of McAlmont&Butler, whose singer David Almont says that their music is "rock n roll soup". Bert Jansch with and after his band Pentangle has been mixing elements of folk, jazz and blues since the sixties. Ah, another case of young blood mixing with experienced peer? That is bound to become conflictual, generation gap and that, some might say. Most of the time, that is the case, either the old wolf eats the pup or the youngster takes the oldster out of semi-retirement. A horrible scenario. But relax, remember where you are, there are no battles of axes, no conflicts - two musicians meet and they make music together. As far as Bernard is concerned, he is getting very experienced with musical collaborations and his instrumentation/production/arrangements have graced the works of Edwyn Collins, Eddi Reader, Aimee Mann, Heather Nova, Hopper, the Libertines, The Veils and last but not least former band mate Brett Anderson. I think that Crimson Moon made in 2000 which also features Johnny Marr is a very beautiful album by Bert Jansch, I cannot claim to know the complete works of Pentangle, alas, I really would have liked to live in the sixties and experience the music first hand, but Crimson Moon sealed Bert Jansch's reputation for me, and the greatest hits which are included on a second CD gave me a good helping hand. I am not a musical expert, if I like a song, I listen to it and that's it. Once a fan, always a fan, I'm afraid, but then, should I be afraid? As a fan, I just enjoy. Because the website needs reviews, I did my duty to provide photographs worth publishing, as usual taken with moody Jupiter Kiev (Ukrainian Leica) which is a museum piece, everything mechanical, I can tell you, fiddling, focusing, tonite I tried a 800 roll and that's the result  Bert Jansch played a few songs on his own on his acoustic guitar, including the Pentangle version of She Moves through the fair. Needless to say, a few folks from Northern Ireland, did enjoy that one. I did too. Another song was My Donal written by Owen Hand who was a friend of Bert - quite appropriate because it is about a man working on a fishing boat, and our venue is situated not far away from the harbour on Lough Athalia Road. There was a third one but I don't know the title, I just know that I enjoyed it because Bert has a warm and pleasant voice, even if some of his songs are not happy at all - you know the blues, man, it's all about waking up in the morning and it's murphy's law all day?  After that, Bernard joined Bert on stage with his Gibson electric guitar, (for guitar experts, the one which has an S aperture, yeah that's the one). The instrument is a good choice because it gives some languid tunes that complement the acoustic guitar without drowning it. Courting Blues definitely had a sensual element to it, the way he plays his intrument, I can see wedding bells between Bernard and his guitar. Of course it doesn't help that Eastenders earlier on had a wedding. But in this type of music, either you travel the world, or you fall in love. Riverbank Song is a song about somebody travelling in search for harmony and sweetness, and he has to ask a ferry man to get him to the other side. If that reminds you of Chris deBurgh, relax, nobody is going to shout at you with a garish 80ies radiofriendly commercial musical arrangement. That ferry man says it's okey, he'll take him but hopefully he won't fall asleep. No way, anyone is falling asleep in here because each song got greeted with applause, we were all fresh like daisies in our best clobbers - in fact the next song was called Fresh as a sweet sunday morning, but old blues is coming and dictates the pace: Blues Runs the game...   What's that? Bernard waves to the roadie, a case of murphy's law? Disaster, we have a blind bluesman on stage, you know getting a bit long in the tooth, 60 you know, Bert gets his specs and realises that he doesn't see much better. Oh dear, and waltzing into the next song which is dark indeed, an adaptation of a traditional song, Omie Wise tells about a girl who gets lured by nasty John Lewes who drowns her without showing any pity. The crime is so shocking that none visits John Lewes in jail. This song reminds me of "The wild roses" by Nick Cave - the gentle guitar gives out strange distorted noises to accompany the tale, and this is known technically as ebow. As long as there are similar stories happening to people such songs will be relevant even if they are shocking. "You light the fire", "morning brings peace of mind" and "Edge of a dream" are very comforting. There is a break now, time for the audience to socialise in the lobby, have a pint or something else. I meet the acquaintance of Elena from Venice, Marty and Chris from the Antrim Road, Belfast, and another gentleman who was missing Terri Hooley and his shop. I reassured him that Mr Hooley has a new shop in Smithfield Market, so everything is fine. I gave up on explaining what Bohemian means to me, I feel so much like Belfast local that it puts me down when people tell me that I have a foreign accent as if I was a tourist who was passing and getting lost in the tourist trap. For goodness sake, when I arrived in Belfast, Bernard would have been in the middle of co-writing Dog Man Star within Suede. That's how long I have been here.  This is why when Bernard sang "People move on" after "Woman I know" on alone on the acoustic guitar, I could quite identify. Time does not stand still, we do new things every day and it is a bit annoying to be constantly reminded of events that happened so many years ago. As far as I am concerned, I have no ties to the place where I grew up and it is better this way, it's the end of a chapter to which I don't want to go back. Of course we might resume friendships or solve conflicts, visit old places and see them with new eyes, but what we do now is more important that what we did in the past. We move on. In Bernard's case, he seemed to have acquired a bit of personality over the years because his vocals don't sound as aloof as they did when his first solo album "Friends and lovers" came out. Stay is another good song, I don't know the title of the new song but it is all about not being left behind, there was something touching about the comment "To think that I came all the way across Ireland to perform this song...". It's time for Bert to show up, but he is enjoying his pint in the dark so Bernard who seems to have gone blind as a bat as well starts to sing "When I get home" which was written by Bert. He seems to do a lot of driving in his songs, and explains that working with Bert Jansch is keeping him on his toes. I can picture him running all over the place reason enough to slump down on a comfy chair and play a few melodies.  Yep, one of the working class, me! .... Bert comes back. We get Crimson Moon, another liquid song with love in it, this time the narrator wants his pal to tell his flame that he loves her, "She will listen to you/she will know that it's true". Things get a bit surreal, with carnival, toy balloon and the two pals singing about good old booze. Yep, mate, we are in Galway after all, I am a bit envious at their lifestyle because I have to keep off the alcohol due to medication. These days it's all tea and smoothies, and hot chocolate. However, I like seeing people having a good time. Check list, the drink, there, pals, yes, boats, water yes, what do we need? Love. What the the world needs now is love sweet love, as Hal David wrote, so another love song "I just wanted to see you so bad". So girlfriend whoever you are, give your mate a call, lost in Ireland, Galway, singing about almost everything that matters at Radisson.... "Oh if you have a bus to catch, don't mind us!" says Bernard. It is getting a bit late but then, these chairs are so comfy, the music is good, the surroundings are pleasant, the people are friendly, nah, we stay too, I mean, okey feed the pets, go to bed, back to real life... but not yet, it's only quarter to midnight for goodness sake!  And so we take it easy and get a few more songs about acquired wisdom, love, dark side, old age, foolishness, friends, drink, water, travel and our entertainers bowed after the second encore.  uuuhhh!!!!!!! "It's been a hard days night, and we've been working like dogs..." I think one should be legally entitled to be treated to such concerts. The hotel boasts of being a spa with all sorts of treats, well, I didn't sample those (yet), but this was absolutely my cup of tea. A last stroll through the elegant hall, admiring the decor, and then it was back to my own quarters, via the harbour, a chap came out of the pub, completely drunk but very happy and gave me a big hug even if he didn't know who I was. But hey, I would say that I had a nice day in Galway, a place that I remember so fondly when many years ago I came to the festival on my first assignment as a roving reporter. Gosh, time passes and it feels good! And the Kiev decides to give the Galway Harbour an Irish tinting. This is a very strange camera indeed!  special thanks to Nell from Press Office Galway Arts Festival , to Kinlay House for friendly welcome, Eyre's Shopping centre for cheap food, Elena, Chris and Marty for banter and to Joanna for scanning the pics. This review had to be very detailed because a few of my penpals want to know the story in exact detail. The travelogue across Ireland is coming up shortly, the pix are less sophisticated because they are taken with Le Clic, more of that next week! Bert Jansch website Bernard Butler website Galway Arts Festival website album: Crimson Moon published by Castle Music England, Castle Music also: People on the Highway, collaborations with Hope Sandoval, Jarvis Cocker, Bernard Butler (again) and many others |