Empire Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 22 November 2007

Blazin' Fiddles.

EDEN COURT was packed for the return of the magnificent seven known as Blazin’ Fiddles, and they were greeted with rousing cheers as they filed on. Traditional in their gigs is “the chop”, (as in “being up for the…”), a succession of solos demonstrating their different virtuosities.

After the opening ensemble tune, Catriona Macdonald was first up, looking a million dollars in (gentlemen readers may think about football during this brief fashion note) a fetchingly floaty aqua blue dress and matching high heeled strappy sandals – very “Sex and the City”.

Equally stylish in her classic Shetland fiddle playing, Catriona excelled in “Lost in Fishponds”, a beautiful English song (referring to a Somerset village near Bath rather than a drowning incident). Next up was Bruce MacGregor who treated us to a lively selection of hornpipes and reels including “Bees’ Wing”, dedicated to Sean Maguire, the venerable Belfast-born Irish fiddler who, allegedly, had interesting connections and a bodyguard of minders.

To return to the safer topic of dressing up, Allan Henderson, next up for the chop, began by paying tribute to Andy Thorburn, someone whose eclectic wardrobe is as legendary as his piano playing. Andy was clad in a tweed garment which Allan called a “sports jacket”. It was nowhere near as mundane as that, cut like an Edwardian hunting coat….anyway, if there is ever established a Museum of Highland Costume, the curators will be undoubtedly be lying in wait to snaffle this particularly fine example of historical outerwear for their collection.

Allan led the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” to the newly fifty-year old Mr T, and additionally described him as “a deity” – which sounds like hyperbole, but isn’t [well, it is a bit … – Ed.].

The gorgeous chords that Andy lays down on the piano combined with the solid, understated work of Marc Clement on guitar are the key to making this band so vastly more than a five fiddle exercise. Without those firm foundations, how could they build to the heights of musical passion which are their trademark? Happy birthday Mr T, and many more of them.

After a brief story about what he and other pupils of Lochaber’s Aonghas Grant had to do to be awarded the coveted red tassel which swings from their fiddle necks (down a bottle of malt, allegedly, since you ask), Allan launched into his solo selection of 2/4 marches including a fine tune dedicated to the Plockton weaver Dick Macrae, whose rugs trace the genealogy of the Henderson family.

The ensemble returned to the stage to play the well-loved Michael McGoldrick composition, “Glenuig Bay” and a superb Asturian tune, unnamed in Iain Macfarlane’s introduction, before closing the first half with a stunning tribute to the late lamented Johnny Cunningham.

During the interval, their mild-mannered manager Gordon Webber was selling stacks of CDs, especially the one being launched that night, recorded live and encapsulating the excitement of their two shows in Glenuig Village Hall earlier this year; it is entitled, with a breathtaking leap of the collective imagination, “Blazin Fiddles Live”.

Suitably refreshed, the audience of their own accord began clapping along to the second set, without even an instructive eyebrow raised by the band – and that’s a thing you don’t see every day. Aidan O’Rourke was next up for “the chop”; his solo was restrained, almost tentative at first, but built to a breathtaking ‘duel’ with Iain Macfarlane during which the world shrank to just two fiddlers going head to head on stage…. and your reviewer lost her only functional writing instrument under the seat in front …..

Suffice to say that the rest of the evening was a non-stop illustration of exactly why Blazin’ Fiddles have been compared to both U2 and Led Zeppelin. All three bands are marked by playing that is simultaneously passionately loose and tightly disciplined but, though they may not shift as many units worldwide, the Fiddles effortlessly outclass the other two in the warm affection they evoke in their audiences.

On Thursday, the Empire Theatre crowd stood up to demand, loudly and enthusiastically, an encore and many of them danced equally enthusiastically in the aisles once it began.

Again, that’s not something you see every day – but Blazin’ Fiddles are a very special band. They’ve been the darlings of the Highlands & islands – and much further afield – for a whole decade now. As Aidan O’Rourke reminded us, he was only thirteen when they began (aye, that’ll be right, Aidan) – and after so much practice, the five Blazin’ fiddlers play in perfect unison, like the fingers of one hand.

It could sound like a truncated orchestral string section, but it doesn’t because each of them plays in his – or her – own style with immense skill and passion, allied with a visible camaraderie which stretches out to include everyone in the room.

Incidentally some design alchemy has rendered the Empire Theatre much more welcoming than the old auditorium, and the evening was subtly enhanced by the new sound and lighting at our excitingly shiny new Eden Court. If you haven’t seen anything there yet, don’t wait any longer.

© Jennie Macfie, 2007

Links

• Blazin’ Fiddles
• Eden Court Theatre