ongs of Struggle sees a fine collection of Scottish folk singers gather together to celebrate Woody Guthrie’s centenary in an evening of inspiring and compelling music. The whole line-up remains on stage throughout while each soloist takes centre stage, providing a lovely community atmosphere and allows for plenty of singing along: the way folk should be.
Alastair McDonald is a great character and he gets the show off to an entertaining start with some lively banjo and a jolly smile. Sheena Wellington is a complete delight, performing a set of utterly beautiful songs a capella. She drifts easily between genres. An exciting and jaunty song of activism has a chorus with which the audience cannot help but join in. A heartbreaking lament brings a tear to every eye in the room, including her own. It was thrilling.
The group is at its best when all performers get to their feet and weave together guitar, banjo, keyboard and a collection of wonderfully rousing voices, creating something very exciting indeed. There’s an electric mood in the room and it’s impossible not to get caught up in it.
A couple of solo performances, whilst greatly enjoyable, aren’t quite as captivating as others: the strong voice and almost jazzy keyboard-based tunes from Dave Anderson feel a little out of place. There are a couple of slip-ups involving forgotten lyrics and false starts, but this just adds to the charm of the evening. It drew to a close with everyone in the room joining together for a round of ‘This Land is Your Land’ and the crowd left feeling energised and enthused. ‘I don’t want it to be over!’ says one audience member on the way out, but even after the music had finished, the buzz continued for days.
