Concert Chatter

[John Beresford]

Set list from last night's concert:

First Song  The opening chord sequence and the last two words still send a shiver down my spine after 32 years.
The Girl from the Hiring Fair  Nobody does a mid-eight reverie like Ralph.
Maddy Dances  Ralph says she still does.
A Feather Fell  This is destined to be a classic.
Lost Boys  Very poignant in the light of current events in Iraq (my opinion, not (necessarily) Ralph's).
Candy Man  Probably one of the first pieces Ralph played in public.
Mr Connaughton  Already a classic.
Now This Has Started  Gets better with each hearing.
Let Me Fly or Let Me Fall  Gently strummed with a plectrum.  I have never seen Ralph do that before.
Slow Burning Companions  With harmonica.
Earl's Court Breakdown  Reminds me of Al Stewart's 'Bedsitter Images'.
Slip Shod Tap Room Dance  Plenty of finger-picking.
Streets of London  The loose hand version.
That'll Do Babe  I hear it was perfect in Wales last week.  We got 'oops' and grimace and roared our appreciation!
Easter Lillies  A poem in a song.
Weather the Storm  I wish Ralph would invite the audience to join in on the chorussy bits - I was mouthing this all the way through.
Peppers and Tomatoes  As Jenny says above, off the excellence scale.  Quite magnificent.  This is way out in front as my No 1 McSong.
Still in Dreams  As the man says, something to calm down to.  Lovely guitar work.
Glory of Love  Encore!

It was good to meet two of our 'virtual friends', Chris and Leighton.  See you again on The Eye in November...

[Leighton]

The Lowry, Salford 1st June 2004.

It's 19:45 and I'm sitting by the bar in The Lowry, with my wife; with a coke and a tomato juice, and in my hand, clamped very, very tightly are 2 tickets for the middle of the front row. They are not letting people in yet as, "He is still on the stage", at least that what the doorman says.
I'm thinking to myself "Remember what he sings, remember what order, remember, rememeber…."
Movement, yes, we're going in.
I think The Lowry is absolutely perfect for Ralph, great layout.
I knew Chris and John would be in the near vicinity, and since I was looking for 2 Tall, Dark, and Handsome men, I spotted them easily, and introduced myself.
Some beautiful acoustic guitar music was being played in the background, not too sure who it was.
Lights go down, and all of a sudden he's there. No stool, no extra guitars. Ralph McTell and a Yamaha.
Starts off with First Song, the sound is perfect. Never knew he played it in D, always thought it was C with capo on second fret. Then came Girl From The Hiring Fair. Fantastic.
All the songs are fantastic. The chat between songs was amusing and informative.
The story about when he parked in Salford some years ago, and being asked by 2 lads if they could "mind his car", rang a bell.
The introduction to Earl's Court Breakdown - Hilarious.
'Fraid I shed a tear (again) in Peppers and Tomatoes - "I am ready now to kill…."

All too soon the concert is over. I wait, like many others, for a signature and the chance of a chat.
We talk about his national, the 5 CD set of Blind Blake, Finger picking, and much more.... I could have talked all night - or is that danced 

Also a big thank you to Chris Hockenhull, who I managed to chat to for quite a bit. A cracking bloke.

John Thanks for the full and informative set list.
(So much for my memory, but then again I have a head full of the night's memories).


Leighton

[nmg]

It's great to read these reviews as the concerts take place.  It is almost like being there . . . but not nearly as good.  Thanks everyone!

[ChrisG]

Hi MAJ and Chris,

My first time on this board, be gentle with me!
I was at the Cliff Aungier memorial gig at the Half Moon last Wednesday (sorry to hear you couldn't make it Marianne).
Ralph definitely played 'First song', 'Tequila Sunset', Dylan's 'Don't Think Twice' followed by 'Zimmerman Blues' and joined everyone on stage at the end for 'Will The Circle be Unbroken'.

He also mentioned that Cliffo had thought about recording 'First Song' as it was one of his favourites. It was a really enjoyable evening - be interesting to hear how much was raised on the night.

[polly]

Last nights tribute to Lonnie Donegan at the Royal Albert Hall was amazing.The evening opened with 2 of his sons ,Anthony and Peter,singing"Oh Boys Cant yer Line Em" and "New Burying Ground",then it was Chris Farlowe singing "Alabami Bound".Then it was the turn of Ralph who sang "Grand Coolie Dam".It was good to hear him singing  at "Alberts place" again.Following Ralph was Rolf Harris who sang "It  Takes a Worried Man"then he was joined by Gerry Marsden to do" Putting on the Style".Three of Lonnies sons returned to the stage with the youngest dressed as a dustman complete with bin to do ,yes youve guessed,"My Old Mans a Dustman".
The evening continued with the following list of stars covering Lonnies songs,  Kenny Ball,The Barron Knights,Rick Wakeman,Joe Brown,Chas and Dave,Bruce Welsh,Roger Daltrey,Mark Knopfler,Joe Cocker and Van Morrison.
Mark Knopfler and Joe Brown did a duet of a song a tribute to Lonnie that Knopfler has written for his new album .We were trying to work out how old Joe Brown is now as he does not look any older than when I last saw him years ago!!!Whatever he is on Ill have some of that.!!!
The stars even kept us up to date with the football scores when they came on stage throughout the evening.
The evening finished with the whole company returning to the stage for a rendition of Goodnight Irene. It was a very emotional moment when Lonnies wife came on stage to thank everyone and the whole audience joined in with a ""Three cheers for Lonnie"
It was a great evening ,everyone enjoyed it and lots of money was raised for charity.

[JJ (Joanna)]

  Lots to smile about!!! Had a pre-concert chat with Ralph and Nanna, Gerry Conway and Peggy from Fairport before the Swarbaid 2 concert in Birmingham.  Was just having a tea in the cafe before the show and saw Ralph etc sitting at a nearby table.  We had the usual relaxed conversation about his forthcoming big 60 birthday which he says he looks forward to with trepidation!!!  The lovely Ralph has the ability to make you feel so relaxed when talking to him and he even remembers previous times we have met, how does he do that? A great night I thought, well worth attending.  One that will stay in my memory for a very long time.

Nice photo Maj, hope you are feeling better now. JJ

[Mike Carroll]

Hello group,

I've been browsing the site over the last month leading up to Ralph's latest visit to the capital of East Anglia and thought I could add some further anticipation to those of you heading for the birthday bash at the RFH.

Monday saw Ralph performing before a sell-out at the Maddermarket in Norwich and, despite it being 31 years since I first saw him at the Theatre Royal, Streets brought a tear to my eye.

His set was a mix very similar to that which Henrik reported from Denmark and completed with aplomb (apart from a few minor blemishes in Leah's favourite )

The man is genius, his relaxed style of performance (despite an intermittent and untraceable hum from somewhere in the audio system), his command of language and phrasing and his guitar and his completely genuine appreciation of his audience make him utterly watchable.

I envy you the opportunity to see him again, I'm with Billy on this, the man is a National Treasure!

Mike

[Chris]

JUst to note that Ralph had real fun on Monday evening playing along with Steeleye Span at the London Palladium (Hi! to those lurkers on this board that were there - you know who you are! )

Steeleye played along with Ralph doing Streets in the encore. Otherwise Ralph played on Steeleye numbers.

Had a good chat with both at the after-gig reception. Nanna took a couple of really nice photos of Ralph & friends that will hopefully appear soon on the official website. I'll post a couple here in the next few days, but please don't pester me for a week - I'm busy!

[Mark J Salt]

Hi Folks, Just back from Buxton Opera House, despite Ralph having a long  journey to the Peak district with every type of weather imaginable, he was in good form. From memory he started with UP and went onto (in no particular order) Summer girls, and then , Lost Boys, Clare to here, SOL, summer lightning, Arthur Blake, Mr Connaughton, Now this has started, Still in dreams, North Country Girl, and one I wasn't sure of the title? The glory of love??, Peppers and Tomatoes, Leah's favourite and rounded the night off with Girl from the hiring Fair.

The Yamaha developed a crackle near the end but after a few lead changes from a leaping donard it started to behave, Ralph took a minute to explain that he wasn't talking to himself or taking messages from the other side but was replying to Donards queries through his In-ear gizmo.

The tempo of the set appeared slower than normal and It gave a bit of a bluesy feel to some of the songs, Just goes to show that there is still something new even when you've been going to gigs for 30 years. l think Ralph was out to enjoy himself and it worked, It gave a real 'by the fireside with his mates' feel to the gig, at some points it was as if the audience didn't exist, when that happens you know your in for a good night.
Would have been nice to have Cape Horn, but I just don't think he was in the mood, maybe next time.

By the way, apparently the book is nearly ready............(Breath is being held as I type).

[ian_heys]

Ralph was on great form on Friday night at the cosy Lichfield Garrick Theatre.

The place was packed and Ralph seemed relaxed and no adjustments were required to the superb sound system.

For you guitar types he seemed to detune the bass string of the Yamaha for one of the songs and retune after - perhaps you work out which from the list - I can't remember. Perhaps he was just tuning the string but it was the only tuning that I noticed.

He opened with Nanna's Song and then the evening rushed by until he closed with an encore of Up.

I tried to remember all the songs in between on Saturday morning and came up with this list, in no particular order, if I missed any please feel free to comment:

Lost Boys
That'll Do Babe - Ralph explained that he has to get this over with fairly early in the performance so he can relax more -it seemed flawless to me.
Tequila Sunset
After Rain
Streets Of London
Peppers And Tomatoes
Mr Connaughton
First Song
Michael In The Garden
I'm Not Really Blue, by Kate and Anna McGarrigle, from the Red Sky album and said to be having only it's second public performance by Ralph.
Round The Wild Cape Horn
Litlle Birdie
Slip Shod Tap Room Dance
Girl From The Hiring Fair

Has anyone thought of making the Peking Museum Ship people in New York (was it Henrik who mentioned them) aware of Around the Wild Cape Horn? Another classic in the making.

[ian_heys]

Further to my last post, my wife Pam disagreed with me as to the provenance of I'm Not Really Blue.

She was listening to Ralph's intro and is of the opinion that it was inspired by one of Kate and Anna McGarrigle's songs (which according to Ralph has the longest metaphor for sadness that he's ever heard) but was in fact written by Ralph - on checking my copy of Red Sky it would seem that she is right - as always.

Sorry for that.

Ian

[Chris]

A story that fellow member Keith Taylor told on Longdogs....hope he doesn't mind me repeating it here.....

From the Oswestry gig.....Ralph told this anecdote....
"Some years ago a Radio Shropshire DJ did a live interview with Ralph for quite a while, then said "didn't you used to have a beard"? Ralph denied ever having had one, which the DJ more or less insinuated he didn't really believe. Several questions later he eventually blurted out "I don't think you even are Roger Whittaker"!

A bit unfortunate to find a DJ that thought Roger's cover of Streets of London was the original, and didn't know who his guest was, but there again having listened to some BBC Radio you begin to realise how this might have happened!"

[Jess]

.........................."I don't think you even are Roger Whittaker"!

I saw Ralph at the Half Moon in Putney a few years ago when someone in the audience asked Ralph to sing Durham Town!  Ralph said "I don't think so!".  You'd think the locals would know better, wouldn't you?   

[JJ (Joanna)]

After a lovely warm day at Rochester watching the fun and dancing at the sweeps festival, it was time ,after a meal to make our way to the Cathedral! Such a magnificant and apt place for the great man to play! Earlier we had walked into the Cathedral and saw the wiring and sound/speakers etc being fitted and the alter made into a suitable stage for Kellie While and Ralph to play.

We sat outside early because the seating was unreserved and watched people arrive around us. At this point there was no queue but 20 minutes before the doors were due to open I just stood up and wandered over towards the door and everyone followed me!!!!! So a queue was formed!  We managed to get second row because two seats in the front had reserved on them for the Lady Mayor and her husband!

The set started at 7.30 for half hour with Kellie While who has a very strong voice with huge hints of her mother! I am sorry I cannot name any tunes but the last number she did unaccompanied was very good. She wrote/sang a couple of her own songs too.

Then a short break for people to buy Ralphs books/cd's etc,then back to our seats, the Cathedral was hushed and on to the stage walked a relaxed and happy Ralph. 

I wrote out the set list as follows:

Mrs Adlams Angels (most appropriate for the venue!) at the end Ralph looked up as if looking for those Angels!
Summer Girls
Mr Connaughton
That'll do Babe
Maginot Waltz
After Rain
Wild Cape Horn (Great!)
From Clare to Here
Jesus Wept
Lost Boys
I'm not Really Blue
Streets
It's a long way up from Down here ("Up")
Geordies on the Road Again (I've never heard him sing this live?)
First and Last Man
A Feather Fell

The set over all too quickly, the acoustics fantastic although at the beginning Ralph did say to Donard that his sound was coming and going a bit but that was soon rectified in the dark with torches and some changes to a lead 

The encore was  Glory of Love?

Now, I do apologise to Ralph and her Majness if I have incorrectly written down some of the titles to the tunes but I am upstairs and can't be bothered to go down and look at my cd's!!!

Ralph said he would be out to sign and talk to us afterwards so we waited what seemed an extra long time because the Mayor had asked to see Ralph so she went 'back alter' and queue-jumped  Just hope she bought a cd and the book but I don't think she did! Although I was watching her during the set and she was singing along! 

Now, for the best bit! Ralph gave his usual unhurried time to us all with signing and talking to everyone but when it was my turn, that wonderful human being looked up and said "I know you don't I?" How amazing is he to remember me (after 25 years of concert going!!!) I told him it was at Cropredy I think that we talked for ages about Jonah etc! djj took a couple of photos of us and I had taken with me Blue Skies and You well meaning for him to sign because after all this time it occurred to me the other day that I have no signed CD's by Ralph  The talkawhile board and Maj were mentioned and a little pressie is on it's way to you Maj as soon as I have your address!!!

Just had time to speak to Donard about Dylan and it was time to head home very happy!!! 

MAJ says - amended by just adding a song title above - see my post below.

[lucienne]

Hello,
I was at Rochester too.
After the concert one of the stewards went up and shook his hand
saying how much he enjoyed the concert.
Then he said "Your voice is just like Roger Whittaker's" 

Those of you going to Cromer .. try to catch Hot Rats .. they were brill
this weekend.

Lucienne.

[Rich]

It has never ever occurred to me that Ralph sounds like Roger Whittaker? 

It certainly never occured to me that Roger Whittaker sounds like Ralph!

[Rich]

I have been thinking about why it is some people seem to make that connection and wondered if it has anything to do with 'that' album?  _(ATEOAPD) ?

I heard Ralph introduce SOL once by refering to a review  which started: "What has Ralph McTell done to Roger Whittaker's song?"!

[ragtime]

I just got back from the latest gig in Worcester. Ralph was on wonderful form, playing with all the subtlety, warmth and evocative beauty that makes his songwriting and performing so intimate and compelling.

But what a set list!
Some of his  rarer songs to sing liveI would think.
This is it as far as I remember:

Up
Arthur Blake (brilliant ragtime playing; great intro about listening to the new Blind Blake box-set just now)
Summer Girls
A Feather Fell
Lost Boys (this just gets better and better, light years away from the recorded version)
Round The Wild Cape Horn (he said it was inspired by a Channel 4 screening of the original 1920's home movie of the journey)
Terminus
After Rain
Streets of London
Mrs Adlam's Angels
Still In Dreams (the audience hardly breathed ...)
I'm Not Really Blue
The Ferryman (pure magic)
Zimmerman Blues
The Setting
Gypsy

What more could you ask for?

Chris (ragtime) 

[ragtime]

But what a set list!
Some of his  rarer songs to sing liveI would think.

Terminus
Zimmerman Blues

I love Terminus...I hope he keeps it in for this Sunday up in Norfolk...

He told me afterwards that he hadn't planned some of the set this way, but just felt the audience's mood suited these  more wistful and intimate songs, so he took it in another direction, which he also enjioyed playing spontaneously. I assured him that we had loved those songs and that style too. So if you all get in the right mood, he might pick up on the viibes and pull some more surprises out of the past for you ...

Chris (ragtime)

[Penny]

What a fabulous gig last night (7th May 2005) at Chequer Mead, East Grinstead.  A lovely intimate venue and a very appreciative audience.  The sound was excellent, which, of course, is all down to the eye candy that is Donard.

There was no interval and the setlist was:

Arthur Blake
Girl from the Hiring Fair
Still in Dreams
A Feather Fell
Lost Boys
Summer Girls
Miss you most of all
Naomi
Peppers and Tomatoes
Mr Connaughton
Wild Cape Horn
Streets of London
Jesus Wept
Up

I'm not really blue
Glory of Love

There was no interval and only one encore even though the applause warranted another one.