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Folk Concert Review

by Rachel Scott

This time the Folk Club excelled themselves. Towards 8pm, in preparation for the 7.30 concert, over 200 people had filtered into the Union Hall and were waiting expectantly.

Lights dimmed - and Margaret Leighton kicked off with a Milissa Cotton song ideally suited to her strong, rich, deep voice. A good strong beginning to a great concert. Margaret has a voice strikingly different from anything produced at a VUW folk concert recently, and it is to be hoped we'll hear more of it.

It was good of course to see Jean McAllister back. Jean's is an act one never tires of, and despite rumours that she slept through the first half of the concert, her performance suffered nothing from this apparent exhaustion.

Jade, now with two television performances behind them (imagine how long they took to tune up before all that!), were of their usual high standard and were well received. They seem much more at home now and the audience responds accordingly.

One of the highlights (if not the highlight) was Hollis (i.e. Dave Hollis of Chez Paree fame), plus friends. I could almost write a whole review on them alone (but I won't). Dave played guitar (boy, did he ever) and sang - and his two friends sang and harmonised.

I've got to hand it to these people - some of their arrangements were very ambitious with excitingly unusual harmonies - and never did they falter. They maintained throughout a professional air, and yet a friendly sort of freshness which created an immediate rapport. And the crowd went wild They sang a satirical song about television which (so I am reliably informed) is part of a 40 minute satirical rock opera they wrote themselves and which they will be performing soon at varsity. We must see more of Hollis - they are good.

Another new face well worth a mention is Colin Speir. Apparently this guy was sprung upon an [unclear: unsespecting] folk world little more than 3 months ago and they haven't let him out of their sight since. He is really something on guitar and banjo and plays incredibly difficult stuff with the apparent ease of - well - of whatever one does with that sort of apparent ease. A real cool brilliance.

Steve Ashby also has a very pleasant relaxing sound, his voice is soft and melodic.

Gilbert Egdell was really mellow and easy to listen to too, but rather lacked the sort of vitality necessary to match him with the preceding acts.

And as for the Last Chance (said with strong American accent) string Band with the old American Toons - enough said. Every folk concert should have one.

I enjoyed this concert more than any other I have seen the Folk Club put on, and they have set themselves a high standard to match for the rest of the year. It was good to see so many enthusiastic new faces both in the audience and on stage, and the whole atmosphere was one of envigorating newness. I look forward with expectation to anything the Folk Club have to offer in the future, hoping Monday night was in fact a sign of things to come.