Concert Reviews

ARCHIE FISHER’S songs are like a warm fire on a cold night and never fail to bring joy. His outstanding skills on the guitar, complemented by his gentle vocals and excellent stories, made for an entertaining and enjoyable concert. Archie told us that the guitar he was using on stage had not been played on […]

From the explosive, opening number through to the incredible finale with everyone on stage and the audience on its feet, this was an amazing performance. We first encountered Carlos Nuñez when we interviewed him in Galicia, a lifetime or so ago. We’ve followed his musical career ever since. Here he was joined by his brother, […]

ALISON BROWN LOW LILY Scottish lever harpist Lucie Hendry, with guitarist Dennis Iversen, and drummer Christoffer Skovhus opened the proceedings with a folk/jazz fusion set blending Scottish folk influences with a mixture of jazz styles mainly tending to the jazz-rock side. It’s unusual to hear a harp in this kind of context, but Lucie’s rippling […]

When The Wynntown Marshals take to the stage the feeling is that you’re about to be wrapped up in their well-honed, spirited songs – and that’s just what happened at this terrific gig. The Scottish band’s mature catalogue is excellent and imaginative, no track sounds like another and their musicianship means they can vary the […]

MARGO PRICE The hands of time are ticking along very nicely for the Midwest farmer’s daughter and this brilliant gig shows exactly why. It’s a fast-as-a-whip set that MARGO PRICE and her ace band The Pricetags race through, harvesting songs from her crop of albums to deliver them with country, soul and rootsy glee. She […]

Eddi Reader’s entire set was warm, relaxed, at times hilarious and felt like we were all in one big living room enjoying the songs and stories of one of this country’s best singer/songwriters. Gracing the stage with familiar gems like Find My Love, Perfect, Patience of Angels, as well as gorgeous arrangements of Burns’ classics […]

        This was the story of a journey. A journey taken by a violin that had a beautiful sound but had no name. It became a traveller through time, passing through the hands of many musicians, each of whom left their marks upon it. It was a recital that was part storytelling, […]

I have to confess from the start that I had not been keeping up with the various manifestations of Pentangle since the glory days of the original line-up and attended this concert out of a sense of nostalgic curiosity, anticipating a typical “greatest hits” evening. Well, of course, there were some of those, including Cruel […]

Celebration fills the air for SARAH JANE SCOUTEN as this is her first appearance at Celtic Connections. The Canadian singer-songwriter, now based in Dumfries and Galloway, is in impressive form, overcoming the jetlag caused by an arduous flight from her Bowen Island, West Vancouver homeland to the south side of Glasgow for this engrossing show, […]

  Having previously seen Xabier (pron. SHAByer for those of you not proficient in the Galician!) during 2020 Celtic Connections, at a tour-de-force concert in the Drygate Brewery venue, I was really looking forward to this one. First up on the night were Breton traditional band Barzaz. Great musicians and steeped in Breton tradition. Their […]