Artist:Eddi Reader
Venue:The Sage
Town:Newastle
Date:October 10th
Support for the evening came from a new name to me - Lucy Wainright Roche. If the name sounds familiar that is probably due to the fact that she the daughter of Loudon Wainright III and Suzy Roche, and half sister of Rufus and Martha Wainright. No pressure then…..
Interestingly she never mentioned her family, other than to say she had been on tour in Australia recently with her Dad, and considering her roots, it was immediately obvious that she is very down to earth.
Opening her set with a new song called Statesville, Lucy immediately captured the attention of the audience, who were transfixed by the quality of her voice as she introduced us to songs such as Goodnight Chicago and Snare Drum, from her creatively named Cds; 8 Songs and 8 More. Spring Song is a poignant song, written when she decided to leave her teaching post to try music.
Anyone who has ever worked with and left behind, children, would surely relate and appreciate the brief smile of remembrance which crossed Lucy's face as she sang.
Her set was interspersed with stories from her travels, which allowed her to show us her wonderful sense of humour - more than once she had the audience laughing with her. Bruce Springsteen's Hungry Heart was Lucy's choice to close her set, asking the audience to join in with her, which almost everyone did.(and if they wished, wave their cigarette lighters or cellphones in the air for effect, which thankfully only one person chose to do!)
One thing was very clear from the applause at the end of her set and the queue at her merch stand - by the end of this tour she will have deservedly gained a big fanbase here in the UK.
By the time Scotland native Eddi Reader took to the stage Hall 1 was full. Best known as that voice from Fairground Attraction, Eddi has since worked with such notables as Boo Hewerdine. Boo joined her on this tour, along with Roy Dodds (Fairground Attraction), Jack Maher (from Dublin and part of Sharon Shannon's Band), Kevin Maguire, Alan Kelly, and John Douglas (Eddi's partner.)
Wearing a striking tiered black skirt, black top and belt, with her blonde/ red straight hair falling to her shoulders, Eddi looked elgant and nowhere near her 49 years! With her striking Scottish accent she announced they were going to try out some new material from her as yet unreleased album, Love Is The Way, aswell as playing some older material for us.
Launching into a beautiful new track written by Boo Hewerdine, called Dragonflies, she commented how it is a song about how wonderful it is just to live in the moment. It became immediately apparent how well the band get on, as she joked with them about their being no set list, so she'd have to make it up as she went along. So talented are the musicians, and so in tune with each other and Eddi, they were able to pick up on a song the instant Eddi began to sing; it was a joy to watch.
At one point she asked Boo to sing one of his songs, which he did graciously, and touchingly I thought, Eddi stepped right to the back of the stage and sat down to allow him to take centre stage.
Another poignant new song, Fallen Twice, was written by Jack Maher and Eddi clearly loves to sing it. This was also true of a beautiful Scottish song written by John Douglas called Mountainside, which allowed is to see the gentler side of her voice. She joked that we were once Scottish too - we had them…..
Silent Bells was a jazzy sounding new song, whilst my favourite of the new material was a haunting piece called New York City, which she joked John had written about a different woman but she had claimed it as hers, since she's had her own adventures in New York. Whilst ostensibly about a woman, the song is also a love song to a city.
I have to confess that not being Scottish, the Songs of Robert Burns CD is the one which I found the hardest to 'get.' However, a rousing rendition of Willie Stewart allowed me to enjoy how absolutely Scottish it is and certainly inspired me to give the CD another listen.
Love is the Way, the title song from the upcoming album, is a striking son by Irishman Declan O'Rourke, who also wrote Galileo. Galileo became a running joke as people kept shouting for it and as she felt it was too long to sing in full, she kept singing a few lines a capella every time someone called out for it.
Hearing Eddi sing Patience of Angels was a personal highlight - I have loved that song from the first time I heard it and I'm sure I'm not alone! She told us it was written by Boo, and at the time she was a 'single parent to 2 wee boys' and made some joke about there now being some other excuse for the state of the country. If anything, Eddi's voice sounded better than when she originally recorded this - it had been slightly modified but for the better, in my opinion, which is very rare. Hearing Boo Hewerdine, as the writer of the song, sing harmonies over Eddi's soaring vocals, the hairs on the back of neck literally stood on end, until the band built it up for a stunning climax. Clearly the song is as much loved now as in it's heyday, and not just by the audience.
Just when I thought it couldn't get better, she asked us if we'd indulge her and let her play Perfect. Having grown up with the music of Fairground Attraction, I was delighted when everyone started chanting "Play it!" so loudly I thought the roof would fall in! She told us she likes the song more now than she ever did. Apparently even when it went to number 1 her Dad didn't believe she'd made it until at a Celtic-Rangers game, voices were it in the interval singing "It's got to be……Celtic" so she dedicated it to her dad, substituting Perfect' for Celtic' during a chorus. By the last verse, she had everyone in the room joining in, singing for all they were worth. It was one of those wonderful live music moments you know will stay with you long after the event.
Eddi clearly adores what she does. Never have I seen anyone exude so much unadulterated joy from the stage as she Scottish danced around the stage joking all the while that her bassist would have to tell her when her skirt was falling down. Announcing she'd play all night if she could, that 'encores are rubbish; I go off I come back…I'd rather just keep playing. We'll play three more then we'll let you go home, mwah ha ha." So keep playing she did.
The Sandy Ray song Shining Star was great with the band backing and Dandelion, another of the new songs, has a jazzy, radio friendly feel.
I was delighted when we got to hear Bell, Book and Candle, a truly beautiful song about loss, made all the more haunting by Boo Hewerdine's (who wrote the song) harmonies. Eddi quipped that her sons finally thought she was cool when this song was played on the t.v show Charmed at a character's funeral.
Another highlight came in the form of a request; Kiteflyer's Hill, about a real place in London. During this song Eddi demonstrates a real vulnerability as her ethereal voice relays the story of regret.
Leaving the stage after thanking the audience "for coming out and buying tickets to see me - I'm not daft - I know that was a good thing you did," and announcing she'd be back in May, the applause was deafening. So much so, in fact that she returned to the stage announcing that '…the universe must have other plans.' Thus, we got an encore. The jazz lilted Clare was another welcome Fairground Attraction addition, Right Place is a beautifully written song, which may be familiar from the soundtrack to the film Bed of Roses, and as the band upped the tempo for the traditional Scottish sounding Charlie is my Darling, you could have been forgiven for thinking you were at a ceilidh.
The night came to a close all to quickly with a memorable version of the Nilsson classic, Everybody's Talkin,' complete with audience harmonies.
One thing is for certain, everyone present would be hearing Eddi Reader's voice long after those final notes were played, and, for those of us who spoke with her after the show, we'd also be taking with us what a genuinely lovely person she is. Oh and planning our next trip to see her in May, of course.
Helen Mitchell
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