What a brilliant way to spend your retirement. Forgaitherin’, assembled in 2013, was a post-career project for Hugh, Lesley and Hamish, with John the box playing nipper of the bunch completing the square. No afternoon Bargain Hunt, tea and snoozy slippers for this lot, they’re out there, aglow in the bricht light of folk-showbiz with songs and tales that speak truth to power; that entertain; that
move to a tear. “We’re exhausted” Hamish explains as the reason for this being the band’s farewell tour, and this, the penultimate gig. “The drugs have finally caught up with us”. Not, of course Oasis
style white powder binges, no clandestine shadow visits to a Cupar Dr Feelgood. No, we’re talking statins, we’re talking blood pressure tablets.
But judging by tonight’s performance I’m firmly anticipating Sinatra style comebacks for years to come for they were aflame at Crail Folk Club!
A couple of songs in, I check myself; ‘watcha think?’, the kind of reflective practice you do when you have to write up a performance. Hmmm… let’s see…entertained, engaged, happy, grinning, singing
along, feet moving under the table, fingers thrum-strumming along, head bobbing… all good signs and solely down to that well-oiled folk quadrilateral that is Forgaitherin’.
A rousing acapella John Ball stirs the blood, kicks us off and sets the evening asail. Ian Sinclair’s The Kings Shilling follows behind with its powerful chorus… and, en passant, the initial musical fluff and
inevitable restart is wittily brushed off by Leslie - ‘just so you don’t think you’re listening to the CD’!
The evening was a tray full of highlights, lull-free, so it’s unfair to pick one over another… but I’ll try…
Mike O’Connor’s Bringing Nelson Home, accompanied by a profound keyboard drone yields the tale of Nelson’s body being returned from Trafalgar encased in a barrel of brandy – a moving
showstopper with its English, French and Spanish chorus. ‘The chorus is in three languages, so we only like to play it in front of the most articulate, educated audiences’ says Hamish, then without
missing a beat… ‘never mind, we’ll play it anyway’. Tom Paxton’s When Princes Meet has highly effective counterpoint vocals. Steve Knightley’s Santiago is accompanied by an aside about the
engines of Pinochet’s Hawker Hunter fighters, after being sent to East Kilbride for repair, were left to rust in the South Lanarkshire rain, the Rolls Royce workers refusing to touch them - Nae Passaran.
I could go on but let me summarise Forgaitherin’. Astutely curated repertoire… a great selection of tunes and songs, each with its own fascinating back story, each band member has a turn introducing
the material which keeps things sprightly and holds the attention. Solid musicianship and vocals with voices that work so well together on four-part harmony. And perhaps most importantly, a genuine
warmth and humanity on display, returned with gratitude from the audience. It’s a cliché to say, but there was so much love in the room that I felt wholly warmed for my chilly walk home.
Safe passage Forgaitherin’!
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Review by Callum MacLeod, photos by Peter Salkeld