Peatbog Faeries Queen's Hall Edinburgh 13th August 2023 Review
Peatbog Faeries at the Queen’s Hall Edinburgh tonight was a chance for the band’s many fans to catch up with music old and new, and with their infectious brand of traditional music fused into dance hall electro pop/techno, it was party time on the dancefloor.
For over 30 years now, Peatbog Faeries have been re-defining what traditional music and traditional instruments can be capable of and in the process have become music festival favourites across the world, attracting a new younger audience to their shows and their music. Many have of course grown up with the band over the years too.
On stage, the band are a wall of sound and intoxicating rhythms that draw their inspiration not only from traditional Scottish music, but also Dance Music, Jazz, African, Caribbean, Reggae and much more. This often means that instruments not normally associated with fiddles and bagpipes (saxophones for instance) get their chance to be heard in this eclectic mix of music, and it all works together so well. That wall of sound can be deceptive though as, if you start to isolate how individual instruments are used and then arranged into a far larger picture, then a deftly woven musical tapestry emerges.
Peatbog Faeries have a new album out “I See a World” (released 3 August) so it was to be expected that some of tonight’s set list would be from here and new songs like “The Jesster”, “Anne Robertson’s Kitchen” “The Sister of Moses” and “The Poozies’ Visit to Carbost” (played together live for the first time tonight) were obvious crowd pleasers.
The band has over the years created many fan favourite songs and there was time for more than a few older tunes too with “Strictly Sambuca” striking an obvious note of approval from many people this evening.
Whether the song be old or new, or the music be traditional Scottish music or coming from the many diverse sources that the band incorporates into their music, they are obviously having as much fun on stage playing as their audience are having listening to them and Peter Morrison (Pipes and Whistles) makes sure that that connection between the two never wavers for a minute.
This is a band that is truly a collective of musicians with everyone having their own unique part to play in their sound and Norman Willmore (keyboards and saxophone) so often gives these songs that unexpected musical twist to them. As always, the beating heart of any band relies on a good drummer and rhythm guitarist and Stu Brown (Drums) and Innes Hutton (Bass) were constants that never wavered.
Much of the band’s energy comes from fiddles, giving Ross Couper (Fiddle) and Innes Watson (Fiddle, Acoustic Guitar and Vocals) a lot to do all evening, and they were obviously loving every minute of it. Perhaps a little more exuberant than others at times, and obviously having so much fun being on stage and performing was Tom Salter (Guitar and Vocals). Good too to hear Ryan Murphy playing Uilleann Pipes when required
There is in the music of Peatbog Faeries that sense of often capturing in sound that elemental force that the Scottish islands are famous for, somehow tapping into sounds that are very old and at the same time making them very contemporary, but above all just celebrating the joy of being alive in their music. Whatever your troubles may be, you can just forget them completely while Peatbog Faeries are on stage.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
For over 30 years now, Peatbog Faeries have been re-defining what traditional music and traditional instruments can be capable of and in the process have become music festival favourites across the world, attracting a new younger audience to their shows and their music. Many have of course grown up with the band over the years too.
On stage, the band are a wall of sound and intoxicating rhythms that draw their inspiration not only from traditional Scottish music, but also Dance Music, Jazz, African, Caribbean, Reggae and much more. This often means that instruments not normally associated with fiddles and bagpipes (saxophones for instance) get their chance to be heard in this eclectic mix of music, and it all works together so well. That wall of sound can be deceptive though as, if you start to isolate how individual instruments are used and then arranged into a far larger picture, then a deftly woven musical tapestry emerges.
Peatbog Faeries have a new album out “I See a World” (released 3 August) so it was to be expected that some of tonight’s set list would be from here and new songs like “The Jesster”, “Anne Robertson’s Kitchen” “The Sister of Moses” and “The Poozies’ Visit to Carbost” (played together live for the first time tonight) were obvious crowd pleasers.
The band has over the years created many fan favourite songs and there was time for more than a few older tunes too with “Strictly Sambuca” striking an obvious note of approval from many people this evening.
Whether the song be old or new, or the music be traditional Scottish music or coming from the many diverse sources that the band incorporates into their music, they are obviously having as much fun on stage playing as their audience are having listening to them and Peter Morrison (Pipes and Whistles) makes sure that that connection between the two never wavers for a minute.
This is a band that is truly a collective of musicians with everyone having their own unique part to play in their sound and Norman Willmore (keyboards and saxophone) so often gives these songs that unexpected musical twist to them. As always, the beating heart of any band relies on a good drummer and rhythm guitarist and Stu Brown (Drums) and Innes Hutton (Bass) were constants that never wavered.
Much of the band’s energy comes from fiddles, giving Ross Couper (Fiddle) and Innes Watson (Fiddle, Acoustic Guitar and Vocals) a lot to do all evening, and they were obviously loving every minute of it. Perhaps a little more exuberant than others at times, and obviously having so much fun being on stage and performing was Tom Salter (Guitar and Vocals). Good too to hear Ryan Murphy playing Uilleann Pipes when required
There is in the music of Peatbog Faeries that sense of often capturing in sound that elemental force that the Scottish islands are famous for, somehow tapping into sounds that are very old and at the same time making them very contemporary, but above all just celebrating the joy of being alive in their music. Whatever your troubles may be, you can just forget them completely while Peatbog Faeries are on stage.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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