Skerryvore last night, at what proved to be the third in an excellent series of recent folk rock gigs, all of which were surprising and excellent in equal measure. I first heard the band with the release of their eponymous CD in, I think, 2010. So eight years or so later, finally got to see them in a live environment….
The audience welcome was both loud and enthusiastic, and encouraged to dance from song one, a fair proportion of the crowd did exactly that; well, I say ‘exactly’ – the odd one or two did actually perform in a manner that actually gave me renewed false hope for my own ‘dance chops’, but I still managed to refrain from sharing! Skerryvore has a reputation for being a superb live band and they sure as hell didn’t disappoint .They delivered the sort of set designed to keep the audience on their feet for the whole show, which they did. Selecting songs and tunes from the new album (‘Evo‘), the band also drew from their back catalogue. One or two critics, whilst acknowledging their live performance, tend to be a bit sniffy about the self-penned material and whilst it can be a little formulaic lyrically, in a live environment the sheer power and versatility simply shines through. Let’s just say on this occasion, no-one left this gig early to miss the car park queues!!