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Womenfolk

Venue: Band On The Wall
Town: Manchester
Date: 30/01/14
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/691717614183935/?fref=ts

Womenfolk are Emily Portman, Emma Sweeney and Lucy Ward. They got together in order to play five gigs across the north over the next week. They met earlier today and have been rehearsing hard from 2 o'clock this afternoon and by their own admission, things could go either way this evening.

Emily opens proceedings with Hatchlings and a story taken from the Greek myth about Leda and the Swan. This is a beautiful song augmented by harmony from Lucy. Emma and honorary Womanfolk member Matheu Watson played Paddy McMahon and Anthony Frawleys jig with a beautiful flowing style full of energy which is surprisingly given that Emma was battling through a cold this evening.

Lucy then sang The Last Pirouette, a song about the end of the world. As is Lucy's style she chewed through the lyrics like viscera and sinew and you are convinced of her compassion and commitment to the song at every breath. Her guitar was distorted due to a spent battery however in this context it worked very well.

And this is how the evening continued. Taking it in turns to sing and play adding harmony, adding instrumentation. This was done in a truly sympathetic way and given the limited rehearsal time, their performance was truly exceptional.

The Band on the Wall was more or less fall to capacity and towards the end of the gig Lucy requested anyone who had not enjoyed the evening to take the secret to their grave, I suspect everyone in the venue last night enjoyed every moment of the performance and that no secrets are necessary. They finished with I Will by Lennon/McCartney which was performed in a slow,gentle and sensitive manner with harmony and fiddle accompaniment. A lovely end to a most lovely evening.

If you get chance catch them soon as they are only performing five dates on the tour and I am very pleased indeed to have been in the audience for this first concert. I would say one word to finish. Album?

Mike Rolland