Well I’m still zinging from seeing Roy perform with such brilliance after a three year enforced lay-off. He has lost none of his voice or power and the song arrangements were superb.
I hope he is back home with renewed energy and enthusiasm for a new album and another great tour.
In case you, like me, are fretful – here’s a few photos:
We arrived in Edinburgh in dazzling sunlight. I’m told it is always like that. I parked the car at the back and took the photo of Edinburgh castle from the carpark! The Usher Hall certainly has a great setting.
Roy chose it because it is an old hall built in 1914, holds 2200 rabid Harper fans – always poised to shout ‘Show us your bum, Roy’ at the slightest opportunity – and above all, has superb acoustics.
Inside the hall it is very grand and opulent in a faded kind of way.
Going round to the front there was a great huge Harper poster on the side of the building.
And another at the bus stop.
The hall was lit up in the sunlight and looked bright and cheery. I had a good feeling. I was not disappointed.
This was a memorable concert!
Fiona was putting out the musical arrangements for the orchestra.
Roy listened intently and made the adjustments. 
These are a few photos from the sound check. I’ll put up some more as I find time to sort them. Hope you like them.
Roy had a migraine earlier but managed to shrug it off though it left him a bit drained – I don’t think it showed.
There is a lot of work getting the sound levels and tone right, coordinating the musicians and arrangements, and getting the lighting right. Sound checks are fraught with focussed attention and intensity. Everything is organised to the last detail. A lot goes on. Quite a bit different to the days when Roy would hitch-hike into a small club, take his guitar out of the case and step up to the microphone.
Bill, Roy and Darren
Darren talking to Fiona Brice
The Mac Gloinn brothers again performed their superb support in Edinburgh. They brought old Celtic songs to life with their great harmonies, interweaving their voices in a delicate beauty, while their own compositions fitted in seamlessly. The tones of their voices complemented each other so well. A joy to hear and a fitting start to the concert. At times they reminded me of the Incredible String Band – at other times they were quite unique. This blend of harmonies has a long tradition that goes way back into Celtic history and was resurrected in the early country and western of the 1930s-1960s in the USA. Brothers have that genetic link and upbringing that enable the nuances to develop so well. There are a host of them (Louvin, Delmore and Maddox to name a few). This was the area that the Everly Brothers tapped into on their album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us and I was interested to see that the Mc Gloinns had a cover of Barbara Allen (Barbara Ellen on their album). The stand out track for me was their own composition – Pomegranate. I look forward to seeing them again for a longer set in more intimate surrounds.
Following their set I nipped along to purchase a CD and have a brief chat. Brian and Diarmuid were doing good business. I obviously wasn’t alone in liking their sound. They were proving popular.
I asked if they were touring and they told me that they were bringing out another CD soon and would likely be touring the UK in December or January. I told them to be sure to play York and Hull (musical heart of Britain).
At the end of the concert, which was the end of the tour, Roy brought them on stage. They had just been part of something momentous – the return of Britain’s greatest singer-songwriter!
Roy Harper
A Man for all Seasons!
I’d go to the ends of the Earth to catch a Harper concert – well at least the ends of the country! That’s pretty much what I’ve just done – from the Royal Festival Hall in the deep south of the Thames Delta in London to the Usher Hall in Edinburgh – the northern granite fortress of Scotland. (OK – not quite Land’s End to John O’Groats). And what a stunning adventure – out of this world!
I’ve seen Roy perform for nigh on fifty years and I can affirm that at the age of seventy five none of his musical skills or voice has diminished an iota. He is as good as ever. Like a good wine he leaves the brain intoxicated with a fine zest tingling the senses.
In the Spring of his career he was forceful, capricious and furiously blowing this way and that with hurricane fury and torrents of words lashing the brains of all who ventured near. Like a tempest – unyielding, creative and wild.
In his Summer years he burned, scorched ears and laid waste to all he despised with vitriol and skill. His epics had scope, genius and barbed insight unparalleled in the world of music.
But, as we all know, it is in the Autumn that the vine bears fruit and the harvest is brought in. Roy is busy gathering in the fruits of the decades and creating a sumptuous smorgasbord to lay before us.
Over the years Harper concerts have been gatherings of the faithful where we were treated to a sharing of the feast in what had become his front room. But this mature Harper has honed each and every song into a gem of a performance. It’s the same feast but the presentation skills are manifest.
Working with a bunch of supremely talented musicians – the strings and brass under the direction of Fiona Brice, Beth Symmons on double bass and Bill Shanley on guitar and banjo – has harnessed Roy to a greater structure and in so doing has enabled his musical genius to shine. In order to synchronise with such accomplished musicians Roy has had to rein in his idiosyncrasies and focus on delivery. But there is no loss of power for all this – the music is all the greater. The backing has superbly augmented Roy’s compositions to unleash their inherent beauty and strengths.
Neither has this detracted from Roy’s rambling intros, beloved by many and a source of immense frustration to others, but usually shedding insight and setting to the compositions.
It was exactly the same set as at the Royal Festival Hall and so I will not dwell too long on the set save to say that Me and My Woman, Hallucinating Light, Don’t You Grieve, Time is Temporary, 12 Hours of Sunset and When An Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease were so well crafted that the quality was up there with a studio produced sound. They were crafted gems.
That is not to detract from the rest of the set either. Hangman and Hors D’ Oeuvres were full of Roy’s anger and passion.
Three years ago we were witnessing a Harper renaissance. He was finally receiving the plaudits that should always have been there, and his live and studio performances were reaching the heights.
I was concerned that a three year lay-off might have brought an end to this late flourish. I am pleased to report that it hasn’t!
Roy is back! This tour was a triumph! This Harper nut has received another fix. Hopefully it will be sufficient to tide him over to the next outing – the withdrawal symptoms are too great to bear.
Make it soon Roy!
(I’ll put up a load of photos in future posts)
