Empire Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 27 March 2012

SMILING bashfully from under his fringe, Inverness’ own James Mackenzie proves he can sing, pick a mean guitar, write a good tune and, battle hardened from gigs in the Sneck’s hostelries, indulge in light-hearted banter with the crowd.

The overall effect is charming and his mum, beaming somewhere in the audience, must be proud, even if his shirt isn’t as well-ironed as she might have wished.

Gallagher and Lyle (All rights reserved Gallagher & Lyle)

So far so good. After the interval, and after an interval of over 30 years since they last toured together, with no introduction Benny Gallagher, Graham Lyle and their band saunter onto the stage. After an impromptu rendering of a song sung since their days in the Largs Boy Scouts (Gallagher and Lyle seem to have known each other nearly all their lives) they launch into Country Morning, their homage to Hoagy Carmichael, Keep the Candle Burning, and a song covered by Don Williams who took it to No 1, Stay Young.

We are in the presence of two of the finest tunesmiths of the last half century as song follows beautifully crafted song, each enlivened with the kind of key changes that have gone almost completely our of fashion, much to the detriment of modern music. That they haven’t lost their touch becomes very plain when, apologetically, they introduce a new song, Tears of the Moon, which for this reviewer is the highlight of the evening as it’s written for the voices they have now, not the voices they had thirty years ago.

Yes, the voices. The rich, sweet harmonies that were the essence of the big hits that they roll out in the second half, including Breakaway, Heart on My Sleeve, and Stay with You are now delicately fragile. Their instrumental skills are casually impressive and they’ve put together an exemplary band – redoubtable jazz saxophonist (and smartly-dressed man) Bobby Wishart, drummer Tommy O’Donnell and bass player and vocalist Billy Campbell. But it’s a shame that whoever’s in charge of light and sound doesn’t, until the last half hour, add a bit of sweetening and balance Lyle’s vocals in the mix. At the same point, the lighting board is finally brought into play.

Luckily Gallagher and Lyle’s low-key banter and self-deprecating good humour is irresistible and besides, they are giving the audience back its youth. The chorus of their McGuinness Flint anthem, When I’m Dead and Gone roars back at them from the audience, on its feet by now, and they grin widely. “Three chords”, says Lyle, bashing away at the mandolin. “Just three chords”.

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© Jennie Macfie, 2012

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