Eliza Carthy & Jon Boden – The Stoller Hall, Manchester – 9th December 2023

What finer way to enjoy some Christmas cheer, safely nestled away from the crowded, overpriced tat offered by the less than authentic gluhwein and bratwurst-laden yuletide battlegrounds outside, than with two legends of the English folk scene. The Stoller stage was set and simply adorned with a selection of instruments and three tastefully decorated Christmas trees for what promised to be a night of very fine festive music indeed.

The Stoller Hall auditorium had been sold out for some weeks, and even the latterly released (behind the stage) first floor, choir seats were holding a decently sized congregation of hardy souls. However the auditorium was only starting to fill as our two troubadours took to the stage, maybe some of the audience were confused by the fact that the Stoller print the start, as opposed to the door times on their tickets, and maybe some of the audience had fallen at the final hurdle and succumbed to one too many gluhweins. It was a mystery that would only be solved during the interval…

Eliza and Jon were equally bemused as to why there were so many empty seats at a sold-out gig, but as Jon noted, it’s better that people keep arriving late, rather than start leaving early – sage words indeed.

The gig was a mixture of tunes and stories, ancient and modern, the well-known and the less familiar, the serious and the most definitely silly, much of the set-list taken from their new album Glad Christmas Comes, reviewed by ATB just last week. The evening included some fine tunes, including ones that can be usefully employed to annoy farmers, a wise tale about the merits of painting your vicar’s windows black and a highly dangerous drinking game by the name of Sheffield; this was particularly risky at the Stoller due to the strong mulled wine that appeared to be doing a roaring trade via its stall in the lobby.

The audience; suitably lubricated from the Sheffield game, were then challenged to provide the two parts to the Diadem chorus, but the Stoller clientele was more than a match for this – or maybe many of them like me, had grown up singing this hymn in choirs – but a fine job was definitely made of it.

The setlist was strongly influenced by Eliza’s mother, the late and most definitely great Norma Waterson, as the first half concluded with one of Norma’s favourites Winter Grace, a hauntingly atmospheric tune, sung unaccompanied which beautifully demonstrated just how finely matched are the voices of Eliza and Jon.

The second half commenced and a somewhat embarrassed Jon took to the stage to apologise for joking about the missing and late-arriving audience members, the reason had been explained to him during the interval at the merch table – industrial action on the railways! Sadly the issue had been compounded further by heavy traffic and many of the city centre car parks hiking their fees in an opportunistic cash grab, making it even more difficult for a small amount of ticket holders to attend.

Apologies more than accepted the evening cracked on at a pace and I was especially pleased to hear In the Bleak Midwinter – you know, the proper Holst arrangement that many of us grew up with, before the Darke version seemed to steam-roller everything before it. It certainly seemed to strike a chord amongst the audience – with a pleasing hummed drone being added from the stalls without any encouragement from the stage.

The evening continued with Eliza adding a Carthy household festive tradition; by performing a monologue about poorly Albert and his recumbent posture, before a very lively rendition of I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas which drew many smiles from the audience and a well supported singalong.

The encore was especially poignant, with a fantastic performance of A Fairytale Of New York, which despite the sad circumstances was the first time that I’ve heard this magnificent Christmas tune this year. It was a fine ending to a very lovely and festive evening, which quite rightly concluded with a standing ovation.

Eliza and Jon continue their Wassail around the UK until 22 December, with dates and limited tickets available via their websites.

Eliza Carthy online: Facebook / Website / Instagram / X (formerly Twitter)

Jon Boden online: Facebook / Website / Instagram / X (formerly Twitter)

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