If you get to a gig early you can look at the stage and on this occasion I was struck by the aesthetics of the stage set. A midnight blue velvet drape with lights made a good background for the warmth of the wooden instruments carefully placed. In readiness. And it occurred to me that a lot of effort and time and thought goes into such occasions. Soon this tranquil stage would be animated by performance but for a moment it is in rest mode. It is a place of possibilities yet to be revealed.
First on was Tiny Pioneers (Jim Farmer) whose set was characterised by clarity of delivery and an evocation of loss. Echoes of childhood rhymes and the starkness of bare bone; wistful cameos and lost opportunities – “What became of the memories we never got to make?” and melodic poetic moments: “you glide in on your sunset wings”.
Allan Sherwood
Allan’s set revealed a variety of influences that echo across the musical genres of our times. He starts and ends with a drinking song but we also have country, rock ‘n’ roll, blues, a road movie of a song, a break-up song, a song about writing music, multi-linguistic lyrics … This was a well-considered set-list delivered with commitment and vigour, with musician’s pride.
Barry Lawton
Here we had a performance characterised by a very strong voice and driving guitar. The thundering pace and high drama of the narrative puts you on the edge of cataclysm. Barry delivers his anger (both political and domestic) across a pit of despair. There is some acknowledgement of the possibility of hope and poignant tenderness – “I’ll Never See You Again” – but for me the enduring phrase was “death by routine”. Songs for these days of dystopia?
Marc Gallagher
With Marc we had a change of tone and he had the confidence to perform whilst sharing the stage with his dog, who fell asleep at one point. This was a lively and confident performance revealing a wide vocal range with a variety of material: love, toxic masculinity, suicide, a celebration of the music of Galway… There was also some characteristic whimsy. Who else would create a heroic song about tea? Or manage poignancy in a song about that most unlikely topic, sleep apnea?
A good night, full of variety in genre and topic. Thank you Tom’s Tap for the venue and thanks, as always, to Martin Edwards. Thank you audience for your generous support.
And thanks also to the sound engineer, Mike Aitchison and to Rona Leftwich whose gentle, systematic collecting up of wires was an example to us all of those unsung heroes and heroines who set the stage. (OK Marc – write a song about this then they won’t be unsung?)
© 2025 Sandra Gibson, Photographs Martin Edwards
