Roaming Roots Revue @ Barrowlands, Glasgow, 20 Jan
Roddy Hart and friends – complete with orchestral accompaniment – start the new year with a show of Scottish strength at this year's Celtic Connections festival
Celtic Connections offers a joyous January burst of creativity to kickstart the year. Many at the Barrowland Ballroom tonight are attending their first gig of the year, and it’s a fair bet that when December rolls around, this show will still be at the top of several end-of-the-year lists.
Roddy Hart has curated this annual celebration of song for over a decade, choosing iconic songwriters such as Dylan, Springsteen and Petty to celebrate with a cavalcade of talent. Tonight, it’s time to look at what Hart describes as The Great Scottish Songbook. The sheer breadth of talent on offer can seem bewildering at times, and simply listing all the performers would take up more space than we can spare here. This leaves us to focus on the unexpected surprises which elevate this from a glorified covers band to something truly special.
Hamish Hawk has his own Barrowland headline show fast approaching, and based on this performance, he is more than ready. He wisely chooses perhaps his best-known song for his first-half debut, The Mauritian Badminton Doubles Champion, 1973, but it’s his electrifying cover of Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out that has the crowd jumping after the break. Indeed, from a slightly reverential start (perhaps more used to the formal surroundings of the Concert Hall) the crowd soon revert to Barrowland-levels of engagement, cheering each new arrival on stage with more enthusiasm than the last.
Brownbear and Roddy Hart at Roaming Roots Revue, Celtic Connections @ Barrowland, Glasgow, 20 Jan. Photo: Serena Milesi
Other relative newcomers such as Brownbear get a chance to shine, and their cover of Aztec Camera’s Somewhere In My Heart stays true to the original. Meanwhile, old favourites like the Trashcan Sinatras threaten to steal the show, first with a pin-drop rendition of Al Stewart’s Year of the Cat, and then with their own Weightlifting.
Through every performance, the magic ingredient is the RCS Symphony Orchestra, conducted by John Logan. It would be tempting to push the orchestra to the front of the mix which might have overpowered some of the more delicate passages, but Logan and Hart have clearly understood that the power of the music comes as much from the silence as the songs. This allows Emma Pollock (Delgados) and Traceyanne Campbell (Camera Obscura) in particular to shine, transformed from indie poppers to torch song chanteuses with one flick of the baton. In this debut outing for the show at the Barrowland Ballroom, there is something truly magical about the sight of the polished elegance of the orchestra in a room more used to simple pleasures.
Emma Pollock at Roaming Roots Revue, Celtic Connections @ Barrowland, Glasgow, 20 Jan. Photo: Serena Milesi
Equally, you have to admire Roddy Hart, who prefers to take his place alongside his excellent band rather than grandstand from the front. During the closing singalong of The Waterboys' The Whole of the Moon, it’s impossible not to be struck by a twinge of national pride. Everyone would have their own list of Scottish songs that could have been included, but tonight’s medley of old and new set a high water mark for this show, and a difficult act to follow for the rest of the year.
Roaming Roots Revue was part of Celtic Connections festival, at various venues across Glasgow until 4 Feb