A great evening. Before Julie Fowlis took the stage, a tall figure strode onto the stage to make the introductions. At first the lights were down, but then he was illuninated: Bob Harris.

The applause was long and loud for Bob, everyone wished him well. Julie Fowlis and her band came on a little late as they were getting their photo taken with Bob and Trudie offstage.

Julies songs, mostly in gaelic, were beautifully sung - she has a great voice. When you have no understanding what is being sung, however, it’s difficult to know when an acapella song has finished, especially as it was the first one. Having braved the one baffled silence, she performed several lively jigs and her band were exceptionally tight. Loved it.

Then came a brief break whilst stage setup was altered. Bob Harris came on again to loud applause and told how he has worked with Beth on the Country Music Awards show on Radio 2, saying they were firm friends and that she’s a great musician. He said he’d asked if he could pop in to a gig on her tour and that, obviously, this was it. Without further ado, but with a hug for Bob, BNC came onstage with her son Ernest, nephew Tripp Dudley, daughter-in-law Julie (I think), Maart, Pete Zorn and John Ragusa.

The real break came an hour later, which was good because I was getting cramp!

A lot of good songs played by fine musicians.

Beth’s d-i-l played bass, drums at one point, and various hand held percussion and gave great backing vocal, too. Pete Zorn and John Ragusa similarly demonstrated their versatility, PZ playing a mighty saxaphone on “Tears Of A Clown”.

When requests were asked for, someone did indeed call for “Solo” and she made a game attempt, but didn’t have the “cheat sheet” of lyrics with her. “Oh for Dave Pegg”, she was heard to murmur.

Great stuff. I thoroughly recommend you go see her, Maart and the band. Julie Fowlis is also very good and deserves your support.

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