On a weekend of high emotions in (the red half of) Liverpool we settled in for a full day of musical entertainment in the Philharmonic Music Room.
Virginia Kettle’s Rolling Folk making their Liverpool debut in the music room
Virginia Kettle may be more familiar as the Grande Dame of Merry Hell, but there’s more strings to her bow than co-leading one of the country’s most popular folk groups whilst keeping the Kettle brothers in check. Virginia’s latest project ‘Rolling Folk’ barrelled into the music room for their debut, matinee performance and treated to the audience to many of the tracks from the Rolling Folk album East of Elsewhere. The Rolling Folk comprise of John Kettle (guitar), Mark Woolley (percussion and whistle) Chris Lee (mandolin and bass) and Clare ‘Fluff’ Smith (fiddle)
Opening with my favourite track from the album, the upbeat and foot-tapping track about self-discovery, Sailing on the Inside, the set developed into some darker themes and showcased Virginia’s superb song writing abilities.
Virginia contributes a significant amount of tunes to the Merry Hell setlist, but whereas those tunes are often rambunctious clarion calls for social and environmental justice, Virginia’s Rolling Folk repertoire is a far more intimate, introspective, kitchen sink drama – dealing with the more personal and sensitive subjects such as love, loss and counting your blessings.
A particular highlight of the set was Winter In Your Heart, 3 minutes and 57 seconds of song writing perfection, a tragic tale of mental illness skilfully woven into a jaunty and catchy tune, that instantly painted the pictures of the characters as clear as day into the listener’s minds eye.
Half-time provided the opportunity for Virginia to get up close and personal with the audience, wine in hand, we listened to the amusing tale of a loose-lipped Spy and the more familiar love story between The Butcher And The Vegan. Honourable mentions should also go to Kiss on the Wind, the excruciatingly accurate observation of relationships that burn twice as fast, but last half as long, and the thought provoking Tomorrow is not Promised, which reminds us all that we must not take for granted the blessings that we have, even when they may appear mundane.
Rolling Folk set complete, some band members were substituted from the bench and quick kit changes followed, before we temporarily went our separate ways to fuel up for the evening ahead. Upon our return the Philharmonic was a very busy place indeed – turns out that the late 1980s/early 90s big hair, smash hit Richard Marx was causing a hazard in the ‘big room’ next door, the other talking point on everyone’s lips whilst we awaited the headline act was the imminent departure of (half of) the city’s favourite German Jurgen Klopp.
Merry Hell are no strangers to the Philharmonic Music Room and it’s not hard to see why, it’s a great space that comes alive with the fantastic Liverpool fans that always come out to show their support. The crowd were up for a good time from the start and danced, sang and swayed with little encouragement needed from the stage.
The vocal Liverpool audience were also utilised to great effect as the band took the opportunity to record their voices for their latest Merry Hell ‘Big Choir’ project, the anti-war anthem Louder Than War. John Kettle spoke from the heart and with great passion about the song and his impassioned speech was rewarded by a loud and tuneful response from the audience. The band are creating a virtual massed choir of 1,000 voices for this project and there’s still a small window of opportunity to be a part of it – check our Merry Hell’s social media for details of how to join in.
Merry Hell’s Liverpool setlist was very much all thriller no filler, with little opportunity for band or audience to draw breath – the boys were granted their contractual half-way ‘personal time’. Leaving Virginia alone to serenade the crowd with Violet, before the suitably refreshed band returned and continued full throttle with my new Merry Hell favourite Army Of Vagabonds.
The evening drew to a somewhat sweaty close with the popular trilogy of Bakers Daughter, One More Day and Let the Music Speak for Itself – coincidentally the title of Merry Hell’s latest, greatest hits album. Merry Hell continue their ‘never-ending tour’ and will be spreading joy in Fishguard and Darwen this weekend, before appearing at a venue near you in the not too distant future.
Virginia Kettle’s Rolling Folk will be appearing at Beardy Folk Festival in June.
Merry Hell online: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
Virginia Kettle’s Rolling Folk online: Facebook
Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube