The last two gigs of this year’s Snape Proms (for us I should add) consisted of two contrasting bands from the folkish side of popular music; and it’s not giving too much away to confide that it was as usual a very fine way to enjoy both the new and familiar through these Snape performances. Although it is , as we shall see, always good to finish with the best of the lot.
Saturday and first up was Sam Kelly and The Lost Boys. Knew very little about Sam, other than he was very based in the traditional form of the folk tradition. This was largely borne out by the material, which tended to be of a piece, even when presenting his own compositions. The band was fine, Sam was a great vocalist and the anecdotes gave real context to the performance, but a little too dynamically sparse for me.
Which brings me to Monday night and a very fine performance by The Oysterband. I won’t bore even the diehard by repeating what’s been said before on this blog or by extolling the merits of previous live gigs, of which there have been a few. I need only say that on this occasion they played material from throughout their career (and that’s nigh on forty years), I knew every song they played and that it was all top drawer stuff. I don’t know how long the band will continue to perform, but my only plea is see them whilst you’ve still got the chance. A folk conscience but with a verse-chorus rock sensibility the band has always had a strong social conscience and mix up proceedings with a blazing version of the late Pete Seeger’s ‘The Bells of Rhymney’ among the largely self penned material from their extensive back catalogue. Even Mrs. No Name was thoroughly entertained, once she’d realised that we weren’t going to see the band with whom she always seems to mix up the Oysterband (no names, no pack drill).