I must be at least 20 years since I last went to a gig at the Irish Centre in Hammersmith and the only bands I can remember seeing there would be Momus and the Band Of Holy Joy and maybe The Men They Couldn't Hang and no they weren't all on the same bill. So it was nice to get to go to this Irish cultural centre again.
By the time I got in, the first act JACQUELINE AND JAY (or was it Jackie and J?) were already on. They were a duo of guitar and Piccolo/flute playing traditional Irish music that was ethereal and very laidback at times with a Celtic dance feel to it. They did a very cool song called Mother Tom that is about Ken Sarowiwa and his struggles and fight.
The Air they followed that with would have sounded fine on www.resonancefm.com traditional music show as would their versions of the Roscommon Reel and Darby's Farewell To London that they put together. That got most of us tapping our feet from our seats. Jay then told a story about his youth and how he was taught the next tune by (I think he said) Pepper Donn who was a regular visitor at his parents' house where his mother used to sing the lilt Sullivans Journey with Pepper. Well I really liked the song and the laid back take they had on it.
They followed that by playing a Norwegian reel that was interwoven into one of their own tunes called Lost, about well being lost of course. It was a nice end to a decent set.
Next on was "acclaimed and award winning" Welsh singer songwriter AL LEWIS whose new album In The Wake is out now on www.spillersrecords.co.uk - the label of Cardiff's oldest record shop no less. Well Al is it has to be said is at the wimpy end of things, in fact a bit too wimpy for me and while Please Make a Little room was pleasant enough it had no spark or originality to it and he seemed to fall into the cracks between James Blunt and James Morrison with a dose of Jack Johnson thrown in for good measure. Oh dear. The best song of his set by far was The Ballad Of The Matador and seeing as he was singing it in the week of what could well be the last ever bullfight to take place in Barcelona it seemed apt even if some of the lyrics were too cliched for their own good.
Part Of The Mix seemed to be trying rather hard to rip off Marc Cohn's Walking in Memphis but failing as Al lacks the authenticity to pull it off. Mrs Evans was better and his one Welsh language song Llosky (Or however it is actually spelt) seemed to have more emotion in it than most of the rest of the set put together, but that could be that he is more comfortable singing in Welsh than English? He finished with The Arsonist and I have to say I doubt that Al will be setting light to many things with his gentle, nondescript folk.
Soon enough it was time for tonight's headliner ELEANOR McEVOY who I am ashamed to say I hadn't heard of before as she was a total revelation and knocked me for six. What a great act she is, now on her 9th album Alone and currently touring completely, er, alone which is a bit of a trick when you play acoustic and electric guitars, Keyboards, viola and a box of Swan Vestas. She has bags of attitude and during the opener Roll Out Better Days played on the acoustic Guitar she came across as an Irish Chrissy Hynde who has been there and seen plenty. She introduced the second song I'll Be Willing as a tune about making sure your friends know that if they need you you will be there for them and it was great.
Isn't it a little Late was another corking song. Deliver me From What You You Do is a very angry song about the Catholic Church and their blind eye to the church's own sins. She was genuinely happy that we all clapped at the end as apparently in Ireland the song has caused people to walk out of her gigs! Damn that's their loss as its a great song making a good point. That was followed by For Avoidance Of Any Doubt, another thoughtful and thought provoking tune.
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She then sat down at her keyboards and played Harbour which could have been an All About Eve Tune but wasn't. It was followed by a brilliant version of Bob Dylan's Just Like A Woman and as she put it ,she has re-arranged it in the way the Dylan also re-arranges his songs live. She then explained that the next tune, Sophie, is used in Anorexia treatment centres the world over these days as part of their treatment. It's a harrowing song about Sophie's battle with her self image and her need to starve herself thin, a very powerful tune that will hopefully continue to do good.
She then got up from the Keyboards and grabbed a box of swan Vesta matches that she played as a mini percussion set while she sang This Message. It was brilliant to hear what sounds she got out of the matchbox and she made the point that you should only use safety matches for this!!
That was followed by the Viola section of her show. The first song Look Like Me, about how we should all strive to look like ourselves rather than fashion clones, was played Pizzicatto. She then picked up her bow for I Want It So Much: a great song of yearning and passion and she played it by hitting the bow on the viola and the tune sounded sort of percussive. It was brilliant to watch what she did to get the sound and tune to come alive. She then played 2 conventional reels almost as if to prove she can.
She picked up her Electric Guitar for Alone (as Only a Womans Heart can be) a song that got the mainly female audience singing along with her. While it's the title track to her new album it also featured on her first album and is apparently a bit of an Irish womens' anthem and is nicely angry as well. She then closed the set with The Cross On Your Shoulder: another angry tune that many of the audience sang along to.
For the encore she opened with one of the Bard Of Brentford's finest tunes, I Knew The Bride When She Used To Rock & Roll: a great version that really brought the song to life and that only left her with timne to thank us all for coming and supporting her and the Irish centre which is apparently under threat at the moment. She then finished the evening with a very nice version of Dylan's I'll Be Your Baby Tonight that really confirmed to me that I have really missed out not discovering Eleanor McEvoy sooner.
As soon as she got off the stage she went straight to the merch table in the foyer and made sure she had a conversation with everyone who bought anything off of her. She also insisted on dedicating and signing every CD as well! A very impressive act and as she is touring heavily I can only recommend going to see her when she comes to a venue near you.
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