Dennis Alexander is a patriotic and wise Scot with great musical talent and a knack for telling stories. He plays songs that reflect his life and the rich culture of Scotland; he wore a kilt, a Scotland rugby shirt and as an introduction played the bagpipes. A highlight of his set was his cover of Robert Burns’ My Luve is like a Red Rose. He delightfully explained how this song related to his feelings about his wife, showing his ability to craft songs and stories.
He played the guitar and sang with a deep and powerful voice and was able to entertain by comically raising the tempo and incorporating amusing stories into song. One great moment of his set came from a song he learnt whilst touring in New Zealand. It was a cover of Bungee Girl by Boothby Graffoe and was about how a man fell in love with a girl that he was launching off on a bungee; he made an amusing simulation of the sound of the bungee by down tuning his guitar up and down repetitively.
The audience for this show was small and the reception that they gave was not particularly enthusiastic. Dennis Alexander had to continually remind the audience to express enthusiasm and it felt fairly sober. Alexander is best seen in a pub, as his exemplification of an wise old Scotsman suits an atmosphere of people drinking and dancing to his satirical songs and funny stories. Carrying on the tradition in Scotland of telling stories with songs, it’s a joy to see him. It is a shame that there just wasn’t the atmosphere for it to really carry.
