Reviews
Artists: Bellowhead + Three Daft Monkeys
Venue: O2 Academy
Town: Bournemouth
Date: 2nd May
Website:
http://www.bellowhead.co.uk
When I heard that Bellowhead were playing the O2 Academy in Bournemouth, I knew that a good night of entertainment was on it's way. The band aren't the current holders of the Fatea Best Live Award for nothing. Since they one that award they've also picked up Radio Folk Awards and Songline Awards to put an already burgeoning mantelpiece under further strain.
When I heard that Bellowhead were going to be shooting the live DVD of the Hedonism Tour at the venue, I was over the moon. Not only would there, eventually, be a reminder of the night without having to resort to dodgy phone footage on YouTube, but it would guarantee that the lighting would be pretty spot on from a photography point of view. A great night and good pictures, result.
The night started with Three Daft Monkeys, a band I'd last seen in a gloriously sunny Poole Park a couple of years back and who have a couple of really enjoyable albums under their belt. In fairness it has to be said that the start of their set was pretty flat.
Whether that was down to the audience not being really settled, as the band came on without any real preamble, the temporary change of bass player or the restricted space that that they had due to the sheer size of Bellowhead or maybe a combination of all three, but not the best of starts.
To their credit they turned that perception around. About half way during their set, things really started to click, the set felt more high energy, the crowd moved from from restless to focused and you could feel them picking up the vibe. By the ens of the set, Three Daft Monkeys had done what any good support band should do, built at atmosphere.
For those of you that have not had the pleasure of seeing Bellowhead, they are an eleven piece folk palm court orchestra, resplendent with brass and string sections, occasional woodwind and percussion. I'd last seen them squeezed onto a tiny stage at the Water Rat when they launched 'Hedonism' last year, a truly remarkable gig.
A comparatively wide open stage in a nicely refurbished Victorian music hall/theatre would appear to be their natural home, they slotted into the venue as though they had been born to it, collecting the audience pretty much from note one, song one.
I counted at least a dozen cameras around the venue, but it has to be said they were pretty much invisible and quickly drifted from your perception, that was probably because your perception was being overwhelmed by the glorious assault of the music. Though it definitely raised the appetite for the DVD.
If I had to sum the night up in just three words, they would be, bawdy, kitsch, entertainment. Through the tunes, the songs and the banter, those three themes were the key. Yes Bellowhead do dark, gothic folk with forgotten brides and body counts, but the scale on which they do it, with an eleven piece, gives it a quality that you can't get with one to four people in a folk club. It's not comparing apples with apples, but that's simply because there aren't any other bands like Bellowhead.
Watching from the balcony and even more so from up in the gods, you realise just what the band bring to folk music, along with a new audience. You can see the waves of movement from the stage as they ripple through the dedicated hardcore at the front of the crowd and right through the rest of the audience on the flat floor, this really is folk for the 21st century.
It's an absolutely glorious night. The band reach a point where they really let their hair down. Most of them leave the zones they've been in pretty much all night to dance and frollick to the side of the stage, almost to become a part of the audience and to revel sabbat like in the atmosphere they've generated.
The tempo briefly drops at a point where people would naturally be shouting and screaming for an encore, but it more or less becomes virtual with both crowd and band acknowledging that this is where we would be shouting for more and the band delivering just that.
On an already magical night Bellowhead, still manage to take things to another level with a supercharged encore, resplendent with confetti canon and tickertape.
Neil King