Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Lee Fisher enjoys a typically transcendent evening with one of the region’s greatest musicians
Image: Richard Dawson by Lee Fisher
Rhodri Davies’ harp is onstage before he is, looking a little like the harp equivalent of a Flying V but actually a witches or bray harp (or Telyn Wrachïod). As Rhodri explains, it’s a medieval harp with a distinct sound caused by some special pegs at the base of each string, the buzz they cause creating the ‘braying’ sound. Rhodri’s enthusiasm and desire to share his knowledge and research is of a piece with his warm and diffident (daft, even) demeanour and you can see why he’s been friends with Richard Dawson for a long time. His short set was wonderful and well-received, the pieces veering from staccato and percussive to liquid and mellifluous, Rhodri at one with his instrument, resting his forehead on its frame as each track finished.
Here comes Richard Dawson with his warm grin and his moonboot (a tragic tale involving a mystical woodland, the song of a lapwing, a cheese and onion pasty and a torn Achilles tendon that has him on a chair throughout). His hometown shows always feel pretty special and so it is tonight, a sold out Hall Two packed to the gills with the faithful. His recent album End Of The Middle feels like the culmination of one aspect of what he does, and while there have been grumbles in more avant garde circles that it’s too ‘polite’ or something (“MOAR SHREDDING”), for some of us it’s his most richly rewarding album yet. It feels absurdly unlikely to find his level of musicianship, his facility with language and his deep, deep empathy and humanity all wrapped up in a genial, often daft bloke with impeccable comedy timing and a knack for finding the bizarre and magical in the quotidian, but that’s what we have.
Accompanied by the remarkable Andrew Cheetham on drums (now very much a fixture), the set is frontloaded with tracks from the recent album – we get Polytunnel, the breathtakingly insightful Gondola and more – before Dawson dips into the back catalogue for Juniper Berries Float Down The Stream and Black Dog In The Sky from Magic Bridge, the latter inducing some proper shredding from Dawson while Cheetham lets rip. There are digressions on Liam and Noel, on how the tuning up is his favourite bit of other people’s sets and the full story of his calamitous bird watching trek. A poll about having a poll about believing in ghosts precedes The Question, and there’s a cover of Wildegeeses from the recently departed Michael Hurley which is a lovely moment for us Hurley fans. The show closes with an apocalyptic take on Black Triangle (which should silence the Wire reading dissidents) and a lovely Horse & Rider and then he hobbles off to a flurry of ovations.
If I’ve made this point before, I won’t apologise: Richard Dawson is probably the greatest musician working right now and we’re blessed to have him among us.
