Music

Seth Lakeman intimate show in Plymouth (review)

25th March 2009

It’s a few years since Seth Lakeman could be seen frequenting local bars playing his heart out to a handful of bemused punters.

Nowadays he’s far more likely to be treading the boards at prestigious concert halls or major festivals around the UK and beyond.

As I write this he’ll be limbering up to play one of the most renowned venues in the world, the Royal Albert Hall, no less, where he’ll be sharing the stage with Fairport Convention as part of a week long series of charity gigs for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Last time he performed in the city it was at the 800 capacity Uni Main Hall, so what on earth was he doing choosing to play The White Rabbit, a thriving underground venue in Bretonside Bus Station with a capacity of half that?

The venue which has just celebrated its fifth birthday is more used to hosting punk and metal bands for teenagers than folk for a mature audience and I think it’s pretty safe to say that Tuesday night’s audience must have won the title for the having highest average age ever at the venue.

Seth had his reasons for choosing the White Rabbit, though - firstly because he’d enjoyed the experience of practising there ahead of his last tour and wanted to support this thriving DIY venue.

He also said he wanted to perform a string of up-close-and-personal dates as a way of testing out a load of newly composed songs which will most likely form the backbone of his next long player.

Needless to say the venue sold out in advance of the night and the atmosphere was electric, following a brave, very chilled set of acoustic gems from one-to-watch Head of Programmes.

Tracks from the most recent couple of albums formed the mainstay of his set - from Poor Man’s Heaven we had a storming rendition of The Hurlers for starters and the heart-wrenching tragic tale of the Penlee lifeboat tragedy, Solomon Browne, while the highlight from Freedom Fields was arguably the moving ballad King And Country.

Several new songs made it into the set of which the slow stomp and strong chorus of Strong Hearts and Minds looks set to make this a show-stealer at future gigs.

Lady of The Sea had livelier crowd members jigging along, before the thumping beat of Riflemen of War kicked in but it’s still Kitty Jay, with Seth on bow-shredding fiddle that proves to be the biggest crowd pleaser with four-to-the-floor fuelled Race To Be King proving a thrilling set closer.

CLARE ROBINSON

Click here to listen to Clare Robinson's recent Seth Lakeman interview.

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