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Robin with Steve Pilley |
Penzance 2003 Robin Williamson, Acorn Theatre, Penzance, 10 August 2003 The
Acorn is an old Methodist chapel converted into a theatre which
seats about two hundred people and I’m After
a break of about twenty minutes it was back to the harp to our
surprise for Painting Box, which Robin introduced as
"A song written by my old friend Mike Heron"
Steve assures me that when he performed it at the Kalamazoo Club
last year, it was on guitar. It worked very well on harp. An
unnamed tune followed which may have been The Wonderful Supper
at the House of Lude. Then we had a story about a king with a
demonic eating disorder, The Vision of Maconglinne. Another
story came next, this time about Robin’s Aunt Mahitabel, then
Robin picked up his Hardanger fiddle and played a tune which was
probably Rounder Jenny. Robin switched back to guitar for
three songs that flowed into each other, As I was Going to
Derby, Facing West and Journey. He sat down
at the harp again for another story, basically Lug Lamh Fada at
the Gates of Tara but with additional material from Gems of
Celtic Story III. Guitar again for a superb performance of Island
of the Strong Door and The Gypsy Hymn which included
bits from De Profundis. The encore was Sweet St. Annes. review by Steve Hague with contributions from Steve Pilley. |
pleased to say it was
full on Sunday night. Steve Pilley, Reimer and I arrived at about 7.40
for an 8.30 start and sat one row back from the front. Robin began
with a harp tune, The Blackbird and made his usual comment
about how this tune could be played fast or slow, and he would do
both. Blackbird became The Bells of Rhymney (I
don’t know if that’s how it should be spelt, but I know
that’s how Robin spells it- Reimer nicked his set list.). He
then told the story of One-eyed Mahoney, and it was clear
we were in for a good night. Next came Heather and the Moor,
which was a new one to us, at least done by Robin but it was
excellent, followed by the less excellent (IMO) Don’t Let
Your Deal Go Down. Then we had the short monologue The Back
of Burnies Hill followed by Riding Down to Portsmouth
at which point Robin switched to fiddle for an unnamed jig, then
to guitar for a superb performance of Ancient Song and Lammas.