EIF Review: Up Late with Donald Shaw

There was nothing ‘wrong’ with Donald Shaw’s curated last night of the Edinburgh International Festival at the Hub, but I left feeling it could have been so much more. Last year, when Mànran played this singularly intimate Edinburgh venue (which should be in use year-round, but that’s another story), they understood that a typically polite EIF audience would need encouragement to get into the folk music spirit. Now Capercaillie, of which Shaw is a founding member, are cut from a different cloth, but if you’re going to promise a toe-tapping, barnstorming finale, I expect something less well-mannered.

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t assemble such an elite nine-strong ensemble of some of the nation’s finest folk musicians without producing something special, but they deserved more ambitious use. If you will assemble elite piping multi-instrumentalists Ross Ainslie and Fraser Fifield, fiddling devils Charlie McKerron and Patsy Reid, plus Scotland’s favourite cellist Su-a Lee, I expect fireworks. Add to this mix double BBC Folk Musician of the Year Tim Edey and singer-songwriter Marc Clement on guitar, and my expectations rise even higher. Complete the band with Shooglenifty’s James Mackintosh on drums, and there’s no excuse not to have the audience on their feet within ten minutes, warmed up with rigorous toe-tapping.

Yet, whilst this band of stars gelled perfectly well, and the opening selection of modern compositions for screen, traditional gavottes and reels were in turn both lovely and lively, they weren’t the stuff to foment a hoolie. A few aborted attempts from me and others to get some foot-stomping, hand-clapping amongst the audience died a death, to say the least. This blend of the sweet, sometimes melancholic and upbeat turned out to be the pattern for the night.

Guest Vocals and Missed Momentum at The Hub

Then we have to talk about the guest singers. Beth Malcolm is an accomplished musician, but her rendition of ‘Rose O’Summerlee’, whilst acceptable, lacks the magic Hannah Rarity brings to the song, and Michael Cassidy might have quite remarkable range, but he’s a contemplative songwriter, not a rabble-rouser.

When you think that Clement—resident vocalist of Session A9 (a band who have never knowingly undersold a gig)—was sitting unused at the end of the row, the show definitely left some firepower untapped.

“Yet, whilst this band of stars gelled perfectly well, and the opening selection of modern compositions for screen, traditional gavottes and reels were in turn both lovely and lively, they weren’t the stuff to foment a hoolie.“

There were repeated attempts to up the party ante nevertheless, and when Ainslie took to the Highland bagpipes to bring home ‘The Silver Whistle’, it made quite the impact. There’s also no denying the band had a good bash at a rousing finale, but though Brian Ferguson (yes, of The Scotsman), one other audience member, and I took to our feet, that was it.

Look, I’m not the world’s most knowledgeable trad music critic, but I have had the luck to be, in effect, the resident journo for the last few Edinburgh Tradfests held at the Traverse Theatre. I’ve witnessed, time and again, the power of superlative musicians to force an audience into a toe-tapping mood and beyond. Ultimately, I think Shaw and pals rested a bit too much on their laurels, and/or felt abashed to play before the suited and booted worthies. They could have pushed the boat out with more ambitious arrangements, finding harmonies and rhythm changes to raise the hairs on the back of the neck; they could have found singers and songs to energise, or better yet, amaze the audience.

That said, Donald Shaw and his chums did more than enough to impress the gathered Edinburgh International Festival crowd, but at least for me, it feels like an opportunity missed.

Featured Image: Up Late with Donald Shaw – Andrew Perry-Edinburgh International Festival