We find our Folk and Tumble schedule kicking in early in 2015 with our first official gig of the year featuring Anthony Toner in the intimate surroundings of Gelston’s Corner Bar in East Belfast’s Park Avenue Hotel. Tonight also sees the launch of The East Side Sessions – a new initiative by East Side Arts to bring live music to East Belfast and in doing so showcase as much of the talent contained in this part of the city.
As usual Anthony’s demeanour is pleasant and down to earth. Fond tributes to East Belfast’s most famous son Van Morrison feature tonight as covers of ‘She Gives Me Religion’ and ‘Into the Mystic’ are played to the appreciative audience. Early in the set Anthony comments on how quiet the audience is telling us he was expecting to be fighting with a noisy bar room and how pleasantly surprised he is and also slightly intimidated by the fact people are listening to him. He need not have worried though as his audience are here for him and him alone. As he runs through a set that features fan favourites ‘Sailortown’, ‘East of Louise’ and ‘Cousins at a Funeral’ the audience show their approval. New songs get a look in as well. Most noticeable is ‘Great Big World’ – a story based on childhood recollections of growing up in the Harpur’s Hill estate in his native Coleraine. In fact, with its humorous imagery of football and adult magazines we reckon any male from the age of 40 upwards will easily relate to it a big way.
It’s clear to anyone present that Anthony is more that just a singer of songs though. He’s a story teller and a raconteur and has a delightful streak of observational humour running throughout his songs. ‘The Duke of Oklahoma’ and ‘The Road to Fivemiletown’ and a nod to timeless television repeats of ‘The Great Escape’ are clear examples of this and once again get great approval from the audience. Ending the night with a cover of James Taylor’s ‘You’ve got a Friend’ we leave feeling that we have just spent the night in the company of an old valued and trusted friend indeed.
The East Side Sessions continue to run on the first Sunday of each month in the Park Avenue with Matt McGinn playing on the 1st of February and Kaz Hawkins on the 2nd of March.