Skerryvore took to the stage without any warm-up or supporting acts, in this one night only gig. They immediately launched into a drum-heavy, lively rendition of The Showman, taken from their new album ‘World of Chances’. Its thumping beat was a bit of a shock after the anticipatory silence, but the crowd soon got into the spirit of things as the band dived into yet another new song without even a cursory pause.
Skerryvore are part of what is fast becoming something of an institution in Scotland: rock bands with a highly traditional, folk-tinged undercurrent. To describe it as rock and roll ceilidh might be a bit simplistic, but the description does provide some hint of what this hybrid sounds like. Perhaps the most surprising thing about the phenomenon is that it actually works.
With fiddle, accordion and bagpipes joining the electric twang of guitar and the deep thudding of bass and drum kit, this is music that upholds heritage while still sounding unmistakably current. A storming version of ‘The Ginger Grouse Jigs’ threatened to turn into a full-blown ceilidh at any moment, while ‘The Last Time’, a song from the new album about a hated ex-manager, showcased singer Alec Dalglish’s voice while also displaying a more overtly pop-rock style.
There was an unusual number of covers in the set-list.. A rather sweet cover of ‘Caledonia’ dedicated to a newly married couple in the audience went down well, despite a few raw high notes from the bagpipes. A cover of Johnny Cash’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ performed with a distinctly Scottish tinge was also well-received. However, the real highlight was a spirited version of Runrig’s ‘Rocket to the Moon’ that did the original Scottish trad-rock behemoths plenty of justice.
This was foot-stomping, crowd-pleasing stuff performed with real skill and flair. Skerryvore might not quite be ‘the Runrig of the 21st Century’ as some have claimed (a dubious assertion anyway, considering Runrig are still very much around), but they achieve something pretty close, and that’s more than enough.
