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The Basement of Big Star records is very small,
it can only accommodate 100 people at the most, but it was only half full
to welcome Eliza Carthy and her accompanist Saul Rose . A poor showing
, given there had been a great show in town the night before , with
around 120 people present at the Governor Hindmarsh to see the full Waterson
Carthy band . Still that's Adelaide for you , people will go to see second
rate local talent who they know, yet ignore the real McCoy . And by all
that's good in music, this IS the real McCoy. Eliza has blossomed into
a great performer, and is carrying on in her parents traditions of carrying
the torch for traditional English music , as well as taking it into new
places, as evinced on her great Cd Red Rice, which you must check out if
you have not yet heard it . |
These pages will give you an idea of what went down on the evening
, along with links to other Waterson Carthy sites on the net and particular
emphasis on the recent Australian tour.
Eliza Carthy.
Big Star show.
Waterson Carthy
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Set list.
Picking Up sticks >
Felton Longing ? >
Kingston Girls.
The Americans Have Stolen My True Love Away.
Miller on the ?
Saulís Morris Tunes.
Air Jig.
Tuesday Morning.
Instrumental .
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The Fuze .
Seventeen.
Bonny Light Horseman.
Herring Song .
Walk Away.
Mr Walker.
Encores.
Zachinthos Jig>
Mr Tommyís Foot >
Quebecois
The Bonny Fisherboy.
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We
arrived early , wishing to get good seats, and it was fortunate
that we did , as there are only a few seats in the Basement and these are
simply stone shelves alongside each of the sides of the room. They were
almost full , so we parked ourselves right next to the PA ( that's my profile
in the far left corner of the photo at the top of the page) . We bumped
into Paul Challen who we had not seen since the Widespread Panic show last
year which was nice, as we had lost touch with him, he'd seen the Waterson
Carthy show the previous night and was raving about how good it was.
We told him that Eliza was already here, as we had seen her talking
to Vic the promoter , upstairs in the shop itself. Martin Carthy was also
in attendance, lurking patriarchally at the back of the room, but he did
not venture down to the stage .
A violin and accordion duo did a short warm
up set and then eventually Eliza got up and did some tuning up and
a basic sound check before being joined by Saul Rose who was to play melodeon
and accordion . They were just about to start when the mobile phone of
the soundman started bleating its stupid little tune and we all had to
wait until the guy had finished his conversation, seemingly oblivious to
the fact that the performers were hanging around tapping their feet.
I'll post the full set list here later, but
some of the highlights of the set were 'Herring Song ' which
has such a catchy tune and some seemingly endless jamming. Saul's morris
solo was great and he dedicated it to the Morris men at the gig .
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"Mr Walker " shone,
as did the wonderful solo version of 'Fisher Boy ", which reminded us
all of Sandy Denny, such was the purity and feeling Eliza put into
the delivery. She also did a couple of her own numbers, including ' The
Fuse " on keyboard, which was initially hard to get used to, but grows
on you with repeated listenings. The quality of the instrumental work by
both players was also as good as I've heard in this idiom and despite
the small audience, both artists put everything they had into this
show.
There were some spirited encores, which
prompted prolonged applause, after which Saul said ' you clap any more
and I kill you ' . A lovely version of "Fisherboy "and they were gone.
We'd been treated to 110 minutes of truly great music ,whilst upstairs
the goons on Rundle Street had been sipping their cafe au lait , inhaling
exhaust fumes and listening to the latest chic crap. I know who
had the better deal .
Thanks have to go to Vic Flierl for organising
the gig . A real labour of love for him I know , but he would have lost
money on this show for sure . Even so , the small audience created a warm
atmosphere, the performers seemed to love every minute of it and I know
most of us would have paid ten times the cover charge to see this show
, a classic in every way !
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