Just back from Dougie MacLean concert
Sep. 10th, 2009 10:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcThat was brilliant. It was part of Blas, the Eden Court based music festival that, in turn, has something to do with Homecoming. But I won't hold that against it[1].
Mum, unlike me, didn't read the programme, and failed to realise that the first half was Gaelic music by local kids. Very nice it was too, even if we didn't understand a word.
The second half was The Legendary Dougie MacLean And His Band (really, that's what it said on the ticket). I can't get used to Dougie having a band; I remember when a Dougie MacLean concert was him, a guitar, a fiddle, and if we were very lucky a length of drainpipe[2]. But I admit that having two other guitars, a piano, a flute, a mandolin and percussion gives the sound a bit more depth.
He started with "Holding Back", and then did a new song, which was really good. ("Now, there's some guitar riffs in this which can cause smoke, and even sparks" [produces pair of specs] "So I have to wear these safety goggles. It's nothing to do with having the words on the guitar and not being able to read them." Shortly afterwards: "I've got the wrong words...")
Then he did "I Feel So Near", aka "The One Where Dougie Plays The Harmonica". He claimed he couldn't really play the harmonica, but just wore it to feel like Dylan, and then casually mentioned how in jazz, the saxophonist does a solo and the crowd goes wild, before even more casually dropping the subject. But he didn't need to drop hints, we'd have applauded his harmonica solo anyway.
The same song also had a flute solo, which got the same reaction, to Dougie's apparent surprise. "You're not supposed to do that, he'll be wanting paid more now."
That was also the first one where we all joined in the chorus. There were a couple where Dougie actively encouraged this, but he added that if we spotted anything that looked like a chorus in the others we should feel free.
I was expecting him to save "Caledonia" for the finale, but he sang it at the halfway mark. At some point he also did "Broken Wings", which is one of my favourites, and "Turning Away", which is another one with a great chorus. He finished off with two fiddle tunes: one which -argh!- I've forgotten the title of, but it's really good, and was in the TV series Scotland's Empire, and "The Gael", better known as The Theme From Last of the Mohecians.
At this point I noticed two people leaving and thought "They don't know how folk concerts work". And sure enough, once the audience clamour was loud enough, he was back to really finish off with "Not Lie Down", where we not only clapped along and joined in the chourus, he asked us to "da-da-da" the fiddle bit, because he couldn't play that and the guitar!
An excellent evening.
[1]I'm even less keen on Homecoming now, having discovered that not only is it a ghastly and poorly-thought-out concept, but its organisers aren't terribly nice people.
[2]"Buffalo Jump", which was one of Dougie's main songs in the olden days, has an awesome didgeridoo solo. But he never took his didgeridoo on tour, because if it got damaged he'd have to go to Australia to get another one. So he played it on a length of drainpipe.
Mum, unlike me, didn't read the programme, and failed to realise that the first half was Gaelic music by local kids. Very nice it was too, even if we didn't understand a word.
The second half was The Legendary Dougie MacLean And His Band (really, that's what it said on the ticket). I can't get used to Dougie having a band; I remember when a Dougie MacLean concert was him, a guitar, a fiddle, and if we were very lucky a length of drainpipe[2]. But I admit that having two other guitars, a piano, a flute, a mandolin and percussion gives the sound a bit more depth.
He started with "Holding Back", and then did a new song, which was really good. ("Now, there's some guitar riffs in this which can cause smoke, and even sparks" [produces pair of specs] "So I have to wear these safety goggles. It's nothing to do with having the words on the guitar and not being able to read them." Shortly afterwards: "I've got the wrong words...")
Then he did "I Feel So Near", aka "The One Where Dougie Plays The Harmonica". He claimed he couldn't really play the harmonica, but just wore it to feel like Dylan, and then casually mentioned how in jazz, the saxophonist does a solo and the crowd goes wild, before even more casually dropping the subject. But he didn't need to drop hints, we'd have applauded his harmonica solo anyway.
The same song also had a flute solo, which got the same reaction, to Dougie's apparent surprise. "You're not supposed to do that, he'll be wanting paid more now."
That was also the first one where we all joined in the chorus. There were a couple where Dougie actively encouraged this, but he added that if we spotted anything that looked like a chorus in the others we should feel free.
I was expecting him to save "Caledonia" for the finale, but he sang it at the halfway mark. At some point he also did "Broken Wings", which is one of my favourites, and "Turning Away", which is another one with a great chorus. He finished off with two fiddle tunes: one which -argh!- I've forgotten the title of, but it's really good, and was in the TV series Scotland's Empire, and "The Gael", better known as The Theme From Last of the Mohecians.
At this point I noticed two people leaving and thought "They don't know how folk concerts work". And sure enough, once the audience clamour was loud enough, he was back to really finish off with "Not Lie Down", where we not only clapped along and joined in the chourus, he asked us to "da-da-da" the fiddle bit, because he couldn't play that and the guitar!
An excellent evening.
[1]I'm even less keen on Homecoming now, having discovered that not only is it a ghastly and poorly-thought-out concept, but its organisers aren't terribly nice people.
[2]"Buffalo Jump", which was one of Dougie's main songs in the olden days, has an awesome didgeridoo solo. But he never took his didgeridoo on tour, because if it got damaged he'd have to go to Australia to get another one. So he played it on a length of drainpipe.
