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Bellowhead

Venue: King George's Hall
Town: Blackburn
Date: 10/11/13
Website: http://www.bellowhead.co.uk/

It's hard to believe that Bellowhead have been part and parcel of the folk scene for ten years. Always cited as a terrifically exciting live outfit, they have continued to pick up the acclaim for their gigs whilst their recorded output (and live films) gather momentum; 1012's 'Broadside' being their strongest yet at capturing their exuberance and excitement. Their current tour has seen sell outs galore, and in 'new' territories too with a first visit to Blackburn having conquered another North West territory in Warrington a few days prior. With mainstays Spiers and Boden putting their duo work on hold after an early 2014 tour, it seems more eggs are going to the Bellowhead basket with next year's tenth anniversary celebrations taking on greater significance with prestigious shows at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall and the Albert Hall being recently announced.

However, on a typically Autumnal Sunday evening in Blackburn more pressing things were in hand. Having witnessed one of the standing shows earlier on the tour, the impressive seated venue suggested a possibly more sedate evening. There is certainly more of an expectation and anticipation for what support act Neil McSweeney called "a bit of a do" when the audience is already on its collective feet rather than having to wait for an opportunity to let the hair down at certain set pieces in the set.

It was the imposing Sheffield based McSweeney who provided a most entertaining warm up. Having joked on Twitter about a trouser malfunction in Warrington where his exuberance got the better of him resulting in a significantly large tear appearing in his trousers whilst trying to execute some impressive stage moves in the limited space provided by the Bellowhead stage set, he seemed a little more restrained this evening. Accompanied by Vera Van Heeringen and with Sam Sweeney moonlighting from Bellowhead, he played a fine short set, just enough to whet the appetite not only for the main act, but also to try and catch him again on his own solo tour which takes in dates at the start of next year. His country flavoured material taking on writing inspiration from the roads out of Sheffield to the hills and views over the Tuscan landscape, and ending with a real footstomper in 'We Are Here' which is featured on his new 'The Seventeen' EP.

For anyone who's seen Bellowhead promoting their 'Broadside' recently, the new tour has given them a chance to juggle their setlist. It was the drone of bagpipes which heralded them onstage to open with the familiar but sombre 'Jordan' while the most recent release dominated the evening's song selection. With the stage set being decorated with an impressive rigging and clouds of smoke making the band appear as though they are playing on deck amidst the cannon fire of a raging sea battle, the inclusion of some of the less obvious choices was both novel and enlightening. 'Thousands Or More' has an almost seasonal feel - quite appropriate with the inevitable Christmas preparations starting to appear in the vicinity, whilst the performance of 'The Wife Of Usher's Well' was nothing short of a revelation. Telling the story of the return from the grave of three ghostly sailor brothers, it was played out with the band silhouetted in deep red light and was purely and simply dramatic musical theatre. For anyone who had passed over the track on the album in favour of some of the more obvious songs, a chance to re-evaluate what is actually a major track in their canon.

The blast through 'Haul Away' raised the temperature as the second part of the set progressed, but it was the 'Sloe Gin' set of tunes which finally had the those members of the audience who couldn't resist up on their feet with the more typical English pastime of 'chair dancing' being the preferred option for most. It's the part of the set where the real fun and games start, and it becomes almost like an unruly group of naughty boys (with Rachel McShane onlooking like an exasperated elder and more sensible sister) led by chief mischief maker Sam Sweeney, taunting Paul Sartin usually with some sort of instrument from Pete Flood's percussion table while he plays the straight man role to a tee. If your attention isn't grabbed by the terrible two stage right, there are always the ever changing and uninhibited dad-dance moves of the brass section; Brendan Kelly's moves becoming ever more increasingly bizarre, yet all part and parcel of the Bellowhead live experience and no wonder that their live show is compared to that of The Who, albeit slightly less destructive.

Interestingly, while plugging the two anniversary shows, no mention was made of the imminent (1st December being the release date) of the Bellowhead Christmas single 'Christmas Bells' - perhaps it's not that close to Christmas……yet with Jon Boden's "We've just time for one more!" and a race through 'New York Girls' and Paul Sartin's "our first time in Blackburn so here's a song about a prostitute!" starting the encores, it was the finale of 'Frogs Legs And Dragons Teeth' which encouraged those brave souls who stage rushed into bounding and bouncing en masse and ending the gig with that contented feeling of reddening cheeks and a job well - a certain indication of a marvellous gig with a band whose already healthy stock is set to soar.

Mike Ainscoe