Fringe 2024 Dean Owens: The Man From Leith at Ghillie Dhu – Auditotium 10th August Review
“Dean Owens: The Man From Leith” at Ghillie Dhu – Auditorium was a one-off Fringe show from Dean and a bit of a return to his musical roots and the Leith that he grew up in as a boy.
Normally, I don’t like giving too much of a performer’s set list away, particularly when it is a shorter Fringe show like this one lasting only an hour. This is, in Dean’s own words tonight, about the time that he can usually talk during his usually much longer shows. This time frame did, however, have the effect of forcing Dean to focus on a tight set list, but with 10 official albums released now, selecting what songs to sing was obviously going to be a challenge.
In the end, there was a mixture of old and new here, something to please everyone from Dean’s extensive and diverse back catalogue. For me, it is often the stories and the songs that Dean creates around his own family and friends in Leith that have the most honesty to them, and of course, “The Man From Leith” had to be in this set list tonight. Also good to hear that the original man from Leith, Dean’s father, was back in the audience tonight too, along with other members of his family. The choice to add tonight the solo trumpet sounds of Philip Cardwell to this song was unexpected, but added much to it. At times those trumpet sounds were almost like a last call for a long tradition of shipbuilding and dock-work that has sadly now gone forever from Leith.
Family is hugely important to Dean Owens and you can hear his love for them in so many of his songs, but one song, “Dora” that explores his Italian/travelling circus heritage makes us all wonder what is “up there in the family tree”.
The Leith that Dean Owens grew up in is a world far removed from the contemporary one of polite coffee bars. Instead this Leith was one of many social problems, many opportunities to take the addiction of your choice. Some people survived this, but all too many did not and “Sally's Song (I Dreamed of Michael Marra” is a poignant and heartfelt reminder of the grim reality of life in Leith during these times.
This was not all a nostalgia night from Dean as we had songs from more recent albums such as “Sinner’s Shrine” and of course the award winning “Southern Wind” from here was performed too
.
Bringing us right up to date with his music tonight, Dean also gave us all a taste of his new musical project, the song “My Beloved Hills” from the forthcoming “Spirit Ridge” album.
As well as the aforementioned Philip Cardwell adding his own distinctive sound to the music tonight, Dean was also joined on stage by cellist Alistair Watson. Sometimes it is all too easy to overlook just what a wide octave range a cello has and how versatile it is to any style of music and, tonight, Alistair Watson knew just when to improvise around the songs of Dean Owens. Together, this unusual combination of Dean on vocals/guitar with the additional sounds of trumpet and cello worked really well together and I hope that this is a musical line-up that Dean takes the opportunity to explore a lot further.
A short show for Dean timewise, but not short on the usual personal warmth, humour and honesty that he always shares with his audiences and which has earned him the many loyal followers of his music over the years.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Normally, I don’t like giving too much of a performer’s set list away, particularly when it is a shorter Fringe show like this one lasting only an hour. This is, in Dean’s own words tonight, about the time that he can usually talk during his usually much longer shows. This time frame did, however, have the effect of forcing Dean to focus on a tight set list, but with 10 official albums released now, selecting what songs to sing was obviously going to be a challenge.
In the end, there was a mixture of old and new here, something to please everyone from Dean’s extensive and diverse back catalogue. For me, it is often the stories and the songs that Dean creates around his own family and friends in Leith that have the most honesty to them, and of course, “The Man From Leith” had to be in this set list tonight. Also good to hear that the original man from Leith, Dean’s father, was back in the audience tonight too, along with other members of his family. The choice to add tonight the solo trumpet sounds of Philip Cardwell to this song was unexpected, but added much to it. At times those trumpet sounds were almost like a last call for a long tradition of shipbuilding and dock-work that has sadly now gone forever from Leith.
Family is hugely important to Dean Owens and you can hear his love for them in so many of his songs, but one song, “Dora” that explores his Italian/travelling circus heritage makes us all wonder what is “up there in the family tree”.
The Leith that Dean Owens grew up in is a world far removed from the contemporary one of polite coffee bars. Instead this Leith was one of many social problems, many opportunities to take the addiction of your choice. Some people survived this, but all too many did not and “Sally's Song (I Dreamed of Michael Marra” is a poignant and heartfelt reminder of the grim reality of life in Leith during these times.
This was not all a nostalgia night from Dean as we had songs from more recent albums such as “Sinner’s Shrine” and of course the award winning “Southern Wind” from here was performed too
.
Bringing us right up to date with his music tonight, Dean also gave us all a taste of his new musical project, the song “My Beloved Hills” from the forthcoming “Spirit Ridge” album.
As well as the aforementioned Philip Cardwell adding his own distinctive sound to the music tonight, Dean was also joined on stage by cellist Alistair Watson. Sometimes it is all too easy to overlook just what a wide octave range a cello has and how versatile it is to any style of music and, tonight, Alistair Watson knew just when to improvise around the songs of Dean Owens. Together, this unusual combination of Dean on vocals/guitar with the additional sounds of trumpet and cello worked really well together and I hope that this is a musical line-up that Dean takes the opportunity to explore a lot further.
A short show for Dean timewise, but not short on the usual personal warmth, humour and honesty that he always shares with his audiences and which has earned him the many loyal followers of his music over the years.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com