Concert Chatter

[CarlWoodb]

Ralph at the Brindley, Runcorn  24 October 2008.

We arrived at the Brindley with plenty of time to spare, thanks to a combination of us getting the start time wrong and our driver’s fear of being late anywhere.
Plenty of DVD’s are being sold and Naomi buys a Ralph McTell shopping bag! These are black jute with a couple of Ralph verses on and even a tribute to Bob on the label – the answer is not blowing in the wind (like plastic bags) the answer is a Jute bag
The Brindley is a very comfortable modern theatre (420 seats), soft blue chairs and plenty of leg room.
There’s quite a deep stage and it looks like Ralph wants to be as far away from us as possible because right at the back of the stage are the mic and guitar stands – No chair or stool.
Looking around there’s a very mixed age audience, it looks as though our daughter Ellie (14) will be the youngest there but a younger girl (about 10) comes into the row in front of us.
The auditorium is pretty much full with just a few odd seats empty.

Donard has been on stage and placed Ralph’s steel National Guitar, Gibson 12 string and Gibson J45 on their stands.

The lights dim and Ralph enters at 8:08, He’s switched from the suit of the last few tours to jeans and ordinary pale blue shirt. He’s wearing his harmonica brace, he picks up the J45 and we get a blast of feedback to bring pain to our ears.  
When you consider how much stage fright Ralph suffers from this must be the worst possible start to a first night.  A couple more attempts and failures follow – Ralph has no sound in his ear piece.  He asks Donard to come down to the front and puts aside the Gibson and picks up the National.  “These were made for the jazz bands before amplification and just use a mic”

We go into the first song in the spontaneously rearranged set list
Georgia Bound  followed by a
Guitar Shuffle – this was based on a Rev Gary Davies piece.  During this Donard was also shuffling around, switching cables and things.  A round of applause requested for Donard.
“Well” said Ralph, “I wanted to start in a different way and I suppose I have”

Ralph switched back to the Gibson and launched into
Walk into the Morning  and
Summer Girls
A short talk about the time of year and his Grandad and 2 uncles who all went into the first world war and all came home – was this going to be Lost Boys?.  Pick up a Gun?.  To our delight it was
Maginot Waltz.  Naomi had said that if there was one old song she really wanted to heat it would be this one.  I don’t think we’ve ever seen it performed on stage or it was a long time ago if we have.
There followed a request for Mrs Green, who will be 100 in December which probably means she’s the oldest present tonight.
Clare to Here.

Ralph switched to the 12 string.  “ Out of all the songs I’ve written, I’ve written 300 – No I’ve written more than that,  this one has never been requested.  So this is out of spite!”
Country Boys.  – This has been rejigged and there were 2 verses on the end that I'm sure aren't on the album, though they are in 'Time's Poems'.
Bert Jansch played along with Ralph on the Easy album version of the next one originally but since he was on his own and wanted a fuller sound it was also a 12 string song
Run Johnny Run  “about a  funny sort of dream” this was followed by something I hardly recognised, it was in a much slower tempo than on the album
Fear of Flying, taking Kenneth Williams’ quote, ‘Life is like a bus journey’ as its basis.

Back to the 6 string for the remainder of the set.

The Ferryman
First and Last Man – This advertises the shopping bag or does the shopping bag advertise this?

Ralph hadn’t actually done as much between song chatter as he often does, several songs had started with either no comment or only the briefest comment.  He took the opportunity now to talk about the book ( on sale in the foyer) and the As Far As I Can Tell tour followed by the Country Blues tour which had both been enjoyable but hard work.  On those tours he’d been able to ‘get out of playing’ a certain song. He said he’s never, ever been interested in appearing onTop of the Pops, just wanted to play  his own music his way, nevertheless he was quite grateful for the song:
Streets of London – I felt a bit sad that this was greeted by applause and cheers – I think we’ve had this discussion before, but it felt especially inappropriate to cheer it on when Ralph had just been talking about being able to get out of playing it.
Peppers and Tomatoes
The Harmonica went back on – he’d changed the key but did say that ‘His Bobness’ once played the wrong key and had it upside down but everyone still applauded
Michael in the Garden
I Don’t Think About You and
Lost Boys  briefly commented on afterwards as being in the same vein as Maginot Waltz
‘And this will be the last one, Thanks for coming out tonight’
Around the Wild Cape Horn  -  We certainly got our money's worth on this one. He missed  out a verse (about having a turkey) went on,   ate the turkey, went back, sang the missing verse, continued, sang ‘The turkey got sick (again) and we ate him quick (again)’ accompanied by a sheepish grin.   I think we love him all the more when he does things like this!

Exit stage right to tremendous applause.

Ralph returned for the encore,
‘Next time I’ll remember to tell you we had a turkey before I tell you we ate it.  A quiet one to finish’
Terminus -  and then to our delight a second encore,
The Girl from the Hiring Fair.

Ralph left the stage at 10:00

We left delighted and exhilarated.  We went with our daughter and 2 friends, Rachel saw Ralph years ago and was wanted to see him again ever since, Ian wasn’t really sure he’d like it. As we expected Ralph worked his magic and Ian thought him brilliant too.  

Carl – (and Naomi)

[Rich]

Ralph at the Brindley, Runcorn  24 October 2008.

Country Boys.  – This has been rejigged and there were 2 verses on the end that I'm sure aren't on the album, though they are in 'Time's Poems'.

The version which is in Time''s Poems is actually the original version which was added as an extra track on the CD of Streets. This was originally intended for that album, but was left off to make way for Streets of London.  A slower version without the last verse and bridge were then recorded for Right Side Up, his next released album. In between he also recorded it with Shel Talmy in Amarica but this remails unreleased.

[John Beresford]

Enjoy the Croydon gig, Jo and Rich (and anyone else going). I believe this is the official launch of the AFAICT book, and Ralph will be signing copies. 

I will be taking two friends to Chesham on Thursday, neither of whom have seen Ralph before. (One of them told me an interesting tale about the Brighton Belle.) I expect to see Marianne there, too! 

Then on Saturday we're off to Brum to see Ralph with The Dylan Project.  We are so looking forward to seeing the staged production of Ralph's Dylan Thomas Project...

John
Running...

[SarahG]

Saw Ralph in Basingstoke last night and he just gets better and better!

[JJ (Joanna)]

The evening began with a wobbly beginning for me last night! I already knew the purchases I wanted, so queued up nicely at the table like we British do and left a polite gap when a lady pushed in front of me, she was enquiring about the bags, asking if they had any more, other than the one on display. I think she thought it was the local market stall!   Anyway there seems no real order to these queues and I felt sorry for the boy (!) behind the desk, he didn't know which way to turn, so in the end I had to speak up to ask if credit card was ok for the purchases (I rarely carry cash, bit like the Queen!   ) He replied that the machine had run out of ink and it wouldn't print any receipts so he couldn't use it! How daft I thought because a lot of people pay with card when the amount is quite large. I somehow felt they may have lost out a bit on sales, but judging by his overflowing cash box it didn't look like it. Anyway I had to scurry out of the theatre, back into the cold night and 'Streets of Croydon' to a cash machine, desperately trying to remember my PIN number!   All was not lost, I returned to queue again and finally bought my bag with a Jute in it! That's a crafty way of getting Jutes into this country Henrik avoiding immigration!  

Sorry to disappoint but I didnt scribble any song list in the dark last night. I thought maybe you would be interested in some other stuff that went on! Maybe Rich will fill everyone in with a full running order.

 I would say that the mix of songs was an all time favourite for me, covering new songs from 'As Far As I Can Tell', right back to 'First and Last Man' but the best bit was 'You well meaning' played on the Grand Piano! He played 2 songs on it, the other being 'Naomi'

I thought the National Guitar sounded great too. Ralph didnt read any bits from his book because he said he wanted to tell the stories and crack on with the songs. He was in good voice and he obviously felt really relaxed and at home on 'his' Croydon stage, reminiscing about his first stage performance there in the early 60's and some of the performers he had seen there also.

Two of his grandchildren, Isobel and Lewis were in the audience, as he said, "Watching their Grandad on stage for the first time"

After the concert, as the queue for signing grew long and wound around the cafeteria area Ralph came out smiling to an applause from the appreciative queuers and when it was my turn he remembered my name   signed my 'Water of Dreams' vinyl with a smile and also signed the Ralph on the Mall DVD I had eventually managed to purchase, not easy that cos the black ink on a predominantly black cover looked difficult but he found space inside to sign! He then apologised for not playing my request but said there were just too many songs to fit in. (THE great Ralph McTell apologising to me?!!!!) I replied by saying, "That's ok Ralph, you can make up for it by just smiling at the camera please"    which he duly did! I told him his concert and songs more than made up for my missed request.

[Rich]

Sorry to disappoint but I didnt scribble any song list in the dark last night. I thought maybe you would be interested in some other stuff that went on! Maybe Rich will fill everyone in with a full running order.

Of course. this is from memory and not strictly in the correct order:

Maginot Waltz
Brighton Belle
Mr Connaughton
Mrs Adlam's Angels
Barges
Naomi
A Big Bill Broonzy Instrumental
Summer Girls
Old Puggy Mearns
Bentley & Craig

Walk into the Morning
Fear of Flying
First & Last Man
You Well Meaning Brought Me Here
Lost Boys
Georgia Bound
Run Johnny Run
Streets of London
When They Were Young

Terminus
Glory of Love

All in all a good selection of old and new, though my wife enjoyed the first half best as it included all her favourite oldies. Interesting to hear a live version of Fear of Flying, and I agree that it was great to have You Well meaning again. I seem to remember he did this one last time  I heard him at the Fairfield Hall about 23 years ago!

[Naomi]

Great review, Joanna  

But incredible that he remembered and was able to connect it with
your face.

This reminded me of something that happened the first time we spoke to Ralph, some years ago - can't memember exactly how long. (I'm sure he wouldn't know us by name, but this shows something about his memory, I think!) The gig took place on St George's Day, and we were thinking how appropriate it would be if Ralph were to perform 'England'. Also, we'd never heard it performed live, though we both like it very much. Carl wrote a short note to Ralph asking him to perform it. We posted it about a fortnight before the show. On the night he did perform it, after commenting that he'd had a couple of requests for it. He mentioned by name someone who'd sent him a request that evening asking for it, so we assumed that he either hadn't received our note, or had forgotten about it.

After the show we queued up to speak to him.  Carl mentioned the letter, and said we were delighted to hear 'England'. Ralph explained that he'd thought some time before that it would be a good song for St George's Day. I assumed that, perhaps not surprisingly, he had forgotten the letter, and we started to chat about the rest of the gig. As we were saying 'goodbye', however, he mentioned something else Carl had said in the letter - and I felt suddenly ashamed of my doubting!    Not only had he remembered it, but he'd remembered it in enough detail to connect the two comments in the letter. He must truly have an excellent memory.

(The people in front of us in the queue that night presented Ralph with a huge promotional poster of Laurel & Hardy they'd found in the store room of an old shop they'd recently taken over. Ralph's face absolutely lit up with delight. I only wish I had something similar with which to thank him for all the pleasure his music's given me for so many years.)


Thanks for the reviews JJ and Rich  

Naomi

Naomi

[MAJ]

Just home from the Chesham gig.  God what an evening. The sound was absolutely superb.  Three guitars, Gibson 6-string and 12-string and the National.  The sound from the 12-string was stunning.

Set was:

Walk Into The Morning
Summer Girls
Maginot Waltz
Brighton Belle
Georgia Bound
Guitar Shuffle
Fear of Flying
Summer Lightning
When They Were Young
First and Last Man
Statesboro' Blues
Run Johnny Run
Streets of London
The Mermaid and the Seagull
Peppers and Tomatoes
Lost Boys

There was no encore, but......Ralph came out afterwards to sign DVDs and CDs.  

He asked me to say "hello" to everyone on TAW.

Good to see John B and his friends who were McTell-Live Virgins (no more!!) with a Brighton Belle connection.  Very halloween.

[John Beresford]

Just home from the Chesham gig... what an evening.

Seconded!  Highlights for me were:

'Brighton Belle' on the 12-string.  What a wonderful sound!  My friend Bern was brought up in the Southern Railwaymen's Orphanage, where his father was the Director.... and 'Croydon Jack' the collecting dog was in the foyer!

Big Bill Broonzy's 'Guitar Shuffle' on the National.  As Ralph says elsewhere, "What a merry jangling!"

'Fear of Flying' - so different, almost a new song - breathtaking poetry that I had not noticed before.

'The Mermaid and the Seagull', complete with brass band sound effects.

No encore, but... a chat with Ralph and Donard at the end of a perfect evening.  

[MAJ]

No encore, but... a chat with Ralph and Donard at the end of a perfect evening.

Yes the chat with them both was an unexpected pleasure.

During Ralph's "chat" during the performance he mentioned two confessions about the origins of two of the songs in the set.... and following John's comment about "breathtaking poetry" I would sum the evening up as one of honesty.  Raw lyrics illustrating events both autobiographical for Ralph and about which other songs were written (e.g. Peppers).  I have come away thinking about the words as if coming across them for the first time and getting something different from them all over again.

Ralph's insight never ceases to amaze me.

[Robin]

i was at the croyden show and was absolutely blown away. the new songs (especially brighton belle and when we were young) were fantastic as were the classics. i was delighted to hear 'naomi', 'summer girls', 'mrs adlams angels' and the rest. there was something incredibly emotional about the gig, i silently wept like a baby to 'when we were young'. first time that's happened to me at a concert! i can't wait to see ralph again, i'll drag some friends along too!! i can honestly say it was the best concert i've ever seen.

[Al]

Saw Ralph at Maidenhead last night, almost goes without saying but I enjoyed it immensely. He seemed quite relaxed although there were a couple of glitches, during the opener “Walk Into The Morning” in particular.

I was especially delighted to see him have the 12-string with him again, and even more delighted when he finished with “Run Johnny Run”, having read the previous reviews I was desperate for him to play it but he kepty me waiting right until the last minute !

The sound, as has been remarked, was superb, and Ralph’s voice seemed to be in  fine fettle despite Maidenhead being the last show of what was quite a long sequence of consecutive nights, although I had the old anxious parent feeling I often get when watching Ralph as he tackled “First And Last Man” :-)

It was nice to hear him revisiting some of the older songs, it was a good move I think. As there was no piano at Maidenhead there was no “You Well Meaning…” but instead he followed “Streets..” with “Song For Martin” and then, to my delight because I missed that tour, he did “Puggy Mearns”…. great stuff !

Set-list follows, although as I didn’t take notes I’m not entirely sure when “When Love Was Young” and “Summer Lightning” fitted in but never mind.

Two things of note from last night : I witnessed my first ever stage invasion at a Ralph McTell concert, admittedly he wasn’t on the stage at the time but a group of  arrivals cutting it quite fine time-wise took a short-cut across the stage just before he came on ! Also, I was very impressed by Ralph’s ‘Elvis Pelvis’ as he taps on that pad thingy-me-bob with his left foot

Oh, and he also came out to meet and greet after the gig, one of the reasons I suppose that it started bang on 7.30pm, to allow time for it afterwards.

Walk Into The Morning
Summer Girls
Maginot Waltz
Brighton Belle
Georgia Bound
Guitar Shuffle
Fear Of Flying
Summer Lightning
When They Were Young
First And Last Man
Streets Of London
Song For Martin
Puggy Mearns
Lunar Lullaby
Run Johnny Run

Encore : Mermaid And The Seagull

[MAJ]

Info just in from Iconic:

Rich Tapestry from Poorest Beginnings

To support Ralph's concerts in Penzance, Tavistock and Ilfracombe, the Western Morning News ran a major article last Friday.

HERE is a link to the online version.

[MAJ]

There is a review of the Croydon gig in the Croydon Guardian HERE

[John Beresford]

Has anyone got a review of Ralph with the Dylan Project last Saturday at Birmingham? 

Ralph opened the show at Birmingham Town Hall with the quip, "It only seems a year since I was last here", a reference to this event being related to Dave Pegg's 61st birthday.  Ralph played a 70-minute set on 6- and 12-string Gibsons (much the same selection as at Chesham) and grand piano ('Naomi'), and later joined the Dylans for their encores, which, of course, included 'Zimmerman Blues'.

The Dylan Project is good fun, especially PJ Wright's pedal and slide guitar work, though it gets a little samey after an hour. Peggy was having fun on bass, and Gerry Conway on drumkit was... well, Gerry.

No meet-and-greet afterwards, but we chatted with several friends, Iconic's Andy F did his Town Crier impersonation with "Get your Fairport Convention bookmarks here", and the merchandise stall did a roaring trade - I know, because Angie bought a job lot of FALM bags (why buy one when five will do?) and I got a T-shirt.  Then it was back outside to a dreadful night and Birmingham's impossible road system that takes you to Walsall to get the motorway to Oxford.

[Naomi]

There's a review from a Somerset local paper here. Not the best of reviews, IMHO, for a number of reasons, including the assertion that people had only gone to hear one song.

I sometimes wonder if journalists who make the sort of claim that this one does about most of the audience being over 50 at Ralph gigs have really taken a good look around when they take their seats, or if they're just regurgitating their own pre-conceived ideas without bothering to check. The majority of people in our row at Runcorn were certainly under 50, and there were plenty more in the auditorium - including at leat 2 under 20. Nothing wrong with being over 50, of course, but one of the amazing things about Ralph is his ability to appeal to people across a very wide age range, and this type of report is therefore very unfair to him.    This writer even seems to think that no-one under 50 will even have heard of Ralph - presumeably the writer knows nothing about AZ or T on the T.  At least this one hasn't made the usual mistake of thinking that Ralph is calm and at ease when he comes on stage.

Has anyone got any idea please about the 'gospel song with highly ungospel sentiments' that Ralph apparently played live for the first time ever since writing it in 1974?

Naomi

PS The Preston Guildhall website says there are only 9 tickets left fot 26th, so anyone thinking of going had better book soon!

[Naomi]

This review from Cambridge is better, I think   I especially like the story about the American busker.  

N

[Blindarthur]

The audience in Bristol were quite middle aged and I did not see any youngsters around. In fact one lady in the front row collapsed half way through the concert and needed medical attention. Ralph was a bit surprised by this and there was some dialogue between him and Donard. However it did not result in the next song being "Get me a doctor"!
We all know about Ralph's quality as a writer, performer and musician but the conundrum for him is getting his music out there. He should at least be invited to perform a concert on the BBC4 "In Session" series and in my view should be invited to appear on Jools Holland. His playing would blow some other guys who have appeared there away. I suggest anyone who cares should write to the Beeb and suggest this. The BBC seem to ignore Ralph which is a tragedy and means his music continues to have less impact on the younger generation.
I agree with all of you his performance and playing is better than ever and is a joy to behold.
The Taunton song in question was "Sometimes I wish I could Pray"  

[John Beresford]

Has anyone got any idea please about the 'gospel song with highly ungospel sentiments' that Ralph apparently played live for the first time ever since writing it in 1974?

The Taunton song in question was "Sometimes I wish I could Pray"

What a strange comment, "highly ungospel sentiments"! Sometimes I Wish I Could Pray is one of Ralph's most soul-baring songs, entirely consistent with the whole of Scripture!!  My old Parish Priest used to say that to sing is to pray twice.

[Rich]

What a strange comment, "highly ungospel sentiments"! Sometimes I Wish I Could Pray is one of Ralph's most soul-baring songs, entirely consistent with the whole of Scripture!!  My old Parish Priest used to say that to sing is to pray twice.

Apparently Ralph's brother Bruce thought that the song might alienate people with  religious beliefs, presumably because of the implication that praying is childish. I have never considered the song offensive or anti-religious in any way.The words When I was a child I thought as a child, and Now I'm a man I think like a man are  from 1 Corinthians 13 verse 11, and the song is actually about Ralph losing his faith, rather than prayer per se.  Ralph has lost his faith, therefore he can't pray, because why would anyone pray to a divine being they don't believe in? Ralph's regret at losing his faith is a common theme in his songs:

 He'd sing about joy and he'd sing about faith, that the people wished they had.