The finery and the faithful are gathered here this evening at the Lyric. The mood is reverential. With my five decades on this planet, I may have brought the average age down significantly. A man of the cloth is before me, and behind, someone has OD’d on Tweed. Olfactory reminiscence is a powerful thing. It smells distinctly like 1977.
Anthony Toner is support. He takes us back to that decade with memories of childhood summers – opening with ‘Cousins at Funerals’, from his first album ‘Eventually’ and later, the wonderful ‘Great Big World’, from his most recent, ‘Miles and Weather’. My inkling is a proportion of the audience may not be familiar with the blessed Anthony Toner’s canon, but his entertaining wit and graciousness is a winning mix.
The opening bars of ‘Well, Well, Well’ may be familiar to many for their association with the UTV weather. If the audience isn’t won over by now, the endearing anecdote about his mum constantly weather watching in the hope that her beloved son might get another 40p, does the trick. ‘Sailortown’ gets a few whoops, and clearly songs like ‘East of Louise’ and the ‘Road to Fivemiletown’ go down well. I get the feeling, that by the end of this set, Anthony has accrued a host of new fans from a different demographic.
Barbara Dickson clearly rates the Bard of Coleraine – who can reach heavenly heights with lowly themes in these lyrical ballads. She rates him as a great songwriter – ‘You should be very proud of him’ she says. True that – who else could melodically pen ‘there’s no sense in looking back, just ask William Shakespeare and Fleetwood Mac’.
Barbara Dickson has an elusive, enigmatic quality – a grand dame of musical theatre, but with the common touch. I get the feeling she’d rather be recognised for her extensive discography and song-writing excellence, rather than her meteoric success in Willy Russell’s ‘Blood Brothers’ or the global hits from ‘Evita’ and ‘Chess’.
With a staggering 29 solo albums, and 39 singles, you can see how it must be difficult to compile a playlist to people-please, but the expectation would be to begin and end with the most memorable melodies – and this she does – evoking an ‘aww’ from the audience on opening with ‘Another Suitcase in Another Hall’, her top ten hit from the aforementioned year.
I guess it matters not an ounce when your talent is beyond brilliant, but Barbara Dickson looks great for sixty-eight. In an eighties-style flounced gypsy dress and with a head of abundant auburn hair, I find something vaguely similar to fellow country woman Eddi Reader’s stage presence and delivery – bursting with spirit and soul, yet able to connect responsively to a captive audience. Maybe they share some Scotian DNA or ancestry that binds to the landscape and place (am sure both have tired of that comparison), but it is, as they say, uncanny.
Accompanied by Nick Holland on keyboards and vocals, she trawls through that aforementioned repertoire to evoke an emotional range and appreciation of the flaws and wonders of the human condition.
From traditional Scottish folk tunes and ballads, to global folk anthems – such as Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are a-Changing’ to songs co-written with Charlie Dore, who she clearly also holds in high esteem.
Toes curl when she sings ‘Tell Me It’s Not True’ (from Blood Brothers), buts it’s her affinity to Gerry Rafferty that really captures the essence of this evening.
‘Winter’s Come’ – which features on Dickson’s latest album ‘Winter’; ‘As Wise as a Serpent’ (which she sang at the Gerry Rafferty Tribute – Celtic Connections – a few years back) – pure gold, as if the spirit of the great man is all around; and ‘The Ark’. Yet somehow, it is her cover of ‘Mary Skeffington’ that captures that Rafferty magic – poignantly perfect – as featured on the tribute album to her friend – ‘To Each and Everyone: The Songs of Gerry Rafferty’.
If anyone in the audience was waiting for ‘January, February’ – well it didn’t come along for it is, after all, a night in November. But Barbara doesn’t disappoint as she ends the set on a high – with the beautiful ‘Caravan Song’ from 1979.
Barbara Dickson has a few more shows this neck of the woods – with support by Anthony Toner: 27th November at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh and 28th November at the Riverside Theatre, Coleraine – coming highly recommended from Folk & Tumble.