What a night.
The rain came down, the floods came up and we set out for Birkenhead. We left in good time because we wanted to meet some friends in the bar before the start. We were slowed a bit by the weather and as the rain lashed down on the M53 the ‘safety car’ came out!! A big thing with flashing amber and red lights and its own personal matrix sign – DO NOT PASS. So we didn’t – we crawled behind it at 15 mph for a mile until we stopped. Completely. And sat there for quarter an hour where there was wailing and gnashing of teeth.
We got moving again and got into the theatre just after 8. The girl on the desk said he’d started 30 seconds ago.
Ralph was playing
I’m Satisfied –including a bit of a John Hurt medley as we gratefully took our seats and were satisfied at last. (second row – I was right behind Leighton.)
Ralph was looking casual and comfortable. Two guitars on stage, Gibson J45 in his hands and the B45 (12 string) on the stand. He put on his harmonica brace for
Walk Into the Morning. A song inspired by following in the style of Woody
Switching to the B45 we were told about Ralph’s dad leaving home and about being passed to his Grandad on the footplate of the
Pretty Brighton Belle, which became a metaphor for him being passed to someone else to look after when his dad left.
Back to the J45 - Since this concert is part of the Wirral Guitar Festival Ralph thought he’d better do some difficult guitar pieces -
That’ll Do Babe. – Tremendous applause but Ralph wasn’t 100% satisfied.
A story about friends –
Leaving ‘Ligan Woods - We visited Heligan Gardens in the summer – Huge amounts of rhododendron- I can see where Ralph got the idea of relentless rhododendron rain.
Leading into the inspiration and confusion caused by his Bobness –
Zimmerman Blues.
Ralph reminded us that many of his teachers were blind, black dead guitarists but one that he had met was Rev Gary Davies a man whose beliefs he didn’t share but whose songs and guitar playing were an inspiration –
Rev Thunder/Blind FaithClosely followed by another inspiring character Davey Graham and his composition
Anji. We’ve heard this a few times now and I’m sure Ralph changed the middle bit.
One loud song, one quiet and now another loud one -
Michael in the Garden - another strummed piece.
Ralph told us of the concert a few nights back when he’d forgotten SOL. Now because Pacific Road has some pretty good acoustics we were all invited to sing along to
Streets – first time he’s made that invitation this tour.
As we all know this was originally Streets of Paris so we had another French influenced song
Grande Affair. This led almost straight into another song that “you can’t write at the time” –
When they were young.
Back to the 12 String for the song that showed us that women have a higher pain threshold than men.
Learning that he had Romany blood Ralph got his ear pierced. He would have had both done but it was too painful!!
GypsyRalph closed the set with
Lost Boys because of it being close to Armistice Day and thinking of those who are still doing a soldiers job and losing their lives.
Ralph left the stage to hide behind the curtain for a minute of applause before returning to the stage explaining that once in Cumbernauld he had seen a door at the side of the stage and being a strange design he couldn’t remember how to get off stage. He stepped through the door – into a cupboard – not even room to turn around. Now the people of Cumbernauld think Ralph enters the stage for the encore backwards. He mimed all this for us – holding the guitar up to his nose, walking backwards! Hilarious.
A quick apology to Donard for the length of the chat before starting the encore of
Around the Wild Cape Horn.This concert was also brought to us courtesy of sudafed - In spite of this Ralph looked relaxed and happy and seemed to be really enjoying himself.
We had an excellent time. The rest of the 1 hour 40 mins more than made up for missing the first minute. We had 15 yr old daughter with us who met Ralph for the first time (her third concert). We also had a friend with us seeing Ralph for the first time. He was impressed and said he would definitely see him again.
We hung around afterwards, thanked Donard and Ralph and had a completely uneventful journey home.
Value for money has been mentioned earlier in the thread. I had a £16 ticket for 1 hr 40 of enjoyment. I have a friend who needs several hours of dental work for about £1500 - I know which I think is better VFM.
Those of you at the Lowry tonight – have a great time – hope the Irwell doesn’t flood.
