Spa Pavilion, Strathpeffer, 15 November 2007

Charlie McKerron and Donald Shaw (© Capercaillie and Vertical Records)

STRATHPEFFER rocked on Thursday night to the sound of Capercaillie at an all-standing gig. The road to Strathpeffer resembled the Inverness rush hour and parking was certainly a challenge.

Before Karen and company made their appearance the warm up act was a solo performance from Glasgow based singer songwriter, Roddy Hart. Playing to a half-full hall is always a challenge and it took a few songs before he warmed up both himself and the audience.

Roddy, who released his first album, Bookmarks, last year on Vertical Records, played largely from the album including, ‘The Life and Times of Joseph Rowe’ and ‘My Greatest Success’, which he recorded with Eddie Reader and Kris Kristofferson. Described by some as a young Willie Nelson or Bruce Springsteen he eventually won over the audience with songs like ‘Playing Solitaire’.

With the hall nearly full Capercaillie made their appearance with a complete and spectacular line up which was a relief given that they had had to cancel some dates earlier in the tour owing to illness.

String supremo Anna Massie, originally from Fortrose and now a member of the Karen Matheson band, joined them for the gig and they kicked off in true Gael fashion with a set of Puirt a Beul which guaranteed a truly warmed up audience- one of the advantages of a standing gig.

Despite a few early problems with sound (something which every musician has to cope with due the Pavilion’s less than perfect acoustics) Capercaillie enthralled their fans with old favourites like the jig, ‘Hardiman the Fiddler’ and ‘Rose Cottage’.

A moving rendition of John Martyn’s ‘Don’t You Go’ was followed by ‘In Exile’, ‘The Tree’, new sets of puirt a beul also featured on their new album Call It a Day, and of course it would not be a Capercaillie concert without Karen’s haunting rendition of ‘Ailein Duinn – Brown Haired Alan’, the beautiful Scalpay lament by Anna Campbell which Karen first made popular by her singing in the film Rob Roy Macgregor.

The mix of old and new was just right and certainly crowd pleasing. Great to see so many (very) young folk in the audience too, a guarantee, that no matter which road the band takes in the future, they are assured of new and ever increasing audiences.

There are few bands around these days, who can manage to retain their audiences whilst still developing new horizons in their repertoire, to the extent that Sgioba Seadha (Team Shaw) can do.

The power of Capercaillie to influence is all too apparent and as I was leaving I happened to overhear a young Inverness couple discussing the gig to which they had only come to because they had won a pair of tickets. Judging by their comments I suspect that the band had just acquired its latest fans.

© Fiona MacKenzie, 2007

Links

• Capercaillie
• Strathpeffer Pavilion