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The Alan Kelly Gang with Eddi Reader and John Douglas

Venue: Grand Social
Town: Dublin
Date: 18th October
Website: http://www.alankellygang.com/

Neither jetlag nor dodgy flight schedules were able to blunt the enthusiasm of this inspired coupling on a bitterly cold night.Their joint mission was to give us a good time,and ,by God they succeeded,with quite a bit.The AKG got proceedings off to a brisk start with a beautiful reading of The Siena Waltz,box and fiddle meeting in fluent coalescence before being joined by the understated flute of Steph Geremia,who also excelled on her vocal outings.The AKG is a quartet who have mastered the twin elements of light and shade so well,that,had they a roadside stall ,they could bottle and sell them!Everything has its place,from Alan's ability to push his box lines right out there,then retreat for any of the other three to make their mark,to Tony Byrne's guitar work ,which alternates between a gossamer lightness and confident overdrive.As for Tola Custy's fiddle;how four strings can make such beautiful music,I'll figure it out some day.

What then ,can one say about Eddi Reader?Striding on stage,introducing John Douglas as "my life partner-for now",she kicked off with Wild Mountain Side,and for the rest delivered a set which should by rights be graded a command performance.Her intersong chatter was nicely self deprecating,versions of songs like I Hung my Harp Upon the Willow give a live relevance with backstory supplied.Her genuine affection for Robert Burns' material was beautifully underscored by The Baron's Heir.Twin guitars joined accordion bass and fiddle after the first verse as her vocal swooped,then levelled,wrapped in this gorgeous melodic cocoon from the others.In between takes of course,there were reels,waltzes and Breton tunes from the AKG,with John Douglas riding shotgun for most of them.

As my late uncle used to say,"a bird never flew on one wing",and the evening's finest vocal moment came with Red,Red Rose,with guitarist/vocalist -and much more besides-Boo Hewerdine joining from the audience to help lift the performance to even greater heights.Quickly followed by a rambunctious version of Welcome Willie Stewart,it transpired that the clock had beaten us,and bar the encore set of Breton tunes ,that was it.I would have to say that many and all gigs that I get to ,this one-far,far greater than the sum of its parts will live in the memory for a long time to come.

Oliver P.Sweeney.