“I’m just a fan Alan.” The immortal words of Ged Maxwell who despite also being a’ ‘fan’ of the magician David Copperfield, admits that the wall space in his ‘room’ (think ‘shrine’) is dominated by his dedication to all things Partridge.
We’re not quite at that stage yet. Zoom lenses we may have but haven’t yet resorted to crank calling, and four straight nights (between us) isn’t unheard of or surprising when you can be back in your own bed after each one. Long term Seth watchers with (even though we do say it ourselves) an informed perspective, the Ainscoe/Taylor/ATB branch of the Lakeman Appreciation Society set forth and pool their thought.
So, with a grateful doff of the cap to the promoter whose planning schedule allows for it, we catch four shows asthe Seth Lakeman Trio skirt around our patch. The combo of Seth plus Benji Kirkpatrick and Archie Churchill-Moss come armed with a set of songs from twenty years. In (almost) the words of one of those songs, bringing sweet music to our doors. “A journey around twenty years of songwriting,” as he puts it at the start of the show.
LYTHAM – The Lowther Pavillion
Not quite by the seaside, although there is a prom of sorts and the famous windmill. It’s a nice spot to wander pre-gig, watch several well organised formations of geese fly over and to try and work out where the stage for Lytham Festival lies. The exact spot where we watched Def Leppard get a different sort of blow dry to their coiffures than they’re used to. Somewhere around the lifeboat launch we reckon. Imagining the sort of Mötley Crüe mayhem in the confines of the RNLI station proves a ham handed segue into Seth’s show where the inclusion of Solomon Browne in the set is always a poignant moment. It’s this evening’s ‘song for the setting’. One of those songs that’s a regular in the setlist although he doesn’t go beyond the suggestion of popping across the road for a swim during the interval.
“BETTER THAN EDINBURGH….”
More than once Seth makes the point that he loves the venue. When he says “we should come here every year” the Lowther season tickets holders seem to agree. They show no shyness either at joining in the singalong parts and are on their feet at the end – preaching to the Fylde converted.
It’s been eight moths since the last Seth viewing with the ‘big band’ and good to see several The Granite Way songs both retained and as stand outs in their ‘trio’ arrangements. None of Roll Back The Years The Black Fox or One More Before You Go suffer in any way, given the general full sound of the trio with racks of stringed instruments and the bass drum at Seth’s feet.
There’s mass tuning before The Black Fox that evolves into a violin fuelled hunting horn and the driving tune. Benji hits the power chords with some venom while contorting his fingers into some impossibly tricky looking chord shapes, recalling the days when brother Sean was at the right hand in the Lakeman band. Even Archie gets into the excitement, cocking a leg now and then. Even without the contributions from Ward Thomas and Ian Anderson’s flute, One More Before You Go has that Christmas vibe and Roll Back The Years adds a touch of poignancy. The latter a reminder of the fact that Seth has been part and parcel of the folk furnishings for well over twenty years now with an increasingly large catalogue from which to choose. It’s brooding presence very much summing up the mood of that record as it swells and kicks into a stirring chorus.
The opportunity to roll back the years with the older songs in the set comes next…
RAWTENSTALL – St Mary’s Chambers
And taking care not to catch the ‘t’ which sits precariously next to the ‘y’ on the keyboards, hence turning the venue into what sounds like a scene form Back To The Future (St Marty’s Chambers).,, It’s ours and Seth’s first time here and it’s a lovely venue with a splendid view from the VIP area (where there’s even a 40th celebration at the gig – what a way to celebrate ) and already we’re spoilt for choice for the friendliest venue staff award of the North West trip. The stage is also nice and compact, with the trio reasonably tightly knit but with enough elbow room not to cause industrial injuries.
As we reflected, the twenty plus years of music making have yielded a huge catalogue that’s been played out in all manner of Seth+ formations from full band to duos and trios and the odd solo gig. Funnily, he refers to “that first album” when he plays The Bold Knight and Blood Upon Copper. That’s the Mercury nominated Kitty Jay album of course, although we shouldn’t forget The Punch Bowl that for so many years provided the incredible stage stomper How Much that took the electronic stabs and turned them into massive Rock riffs (and Ye Mariners All that would often be a rousing celebration, especially Friday/Saturday nights). It also provides the Scrumpy Set of tunes that provides the rush of the encore and sees Benji working at x5 speed.
IN CONVIVIAL COMPANY
The Bold Knight is taken with the brakes on the tempo, perhaps in lieu of no Cormac Byrne percussion although Blood… does retain its hoedown status. It’s also interesting to note the development of The Setting Of The Sun where the closing part is given to an audience participation on a drawn out ‘sonnnnnn.’ part and sees Seth on the verge (to our ears) of launching into some Beatles lyrics impovs. Tonight’s ‘song for the setting’ is One More Before You Go. A song where we’re encouraged to picture ourselves in the pub (or maybe the bar on the back wall) with the convivial company of friends and family.
A morning allegedly frolicking in Blackpool and a lungful of sea air has clearly done the trick. Onto North Wales…
WREXHAM – The Rockin’ Chair
The Seth Trio head over the nearby border and arguably enter their third country on this tour, (I am defintely counting this as an international tour…). Another new venue for both Seth and myself in the form of the standing (hurrah!) Rockin’ Chair in Wrecsam/Wrexham, formerly Central Station. It’s a smallish, grungy, sticky-floor type place and that is not at all a criticism – these venues are the lifeblood of the independent music scene in the UK and offer something quite different to the prim and proper seated venues; and fittingly, this is the type of venue that I first started watching Seth play live some 18 long years ago.
The band are performing the same set-list throughout the tour, and I did wonder if this would work for a standing gig, but work it did – it’s fair to say that even the quieter songs in the set certainly didn’t struggle to be heard, largely due to The Rockin’ Chairs cranium-shatteringly loud PA system.
HOLD YOUR FIRE!
Even if there had been a change to the set-list, there was never a doubt that The Colliers would make a major contribution to the evening. The subject of the song; the Gresford mining disaster, took place in 1934 just 2 miles from Wrexham town centre, so it feels achingly poignant to hear the song here. A genuine ‘song for the setting’. Seth had taken some time out earlier in the day to chat and collect memories about the entirely avoidable disaster from locals at the nearby St. Giles church. The audience, clearly hugely appreciative of the song and Seth’s continued remembrance of the event joined in the chorus with great gusto, also kudos to Benji who shredded his electric guitar solo to perfection.
Enthusiastic audience participation continued throughout, and for me is why I prefer a standing venue – even if my body doesn’t always share this enthusiasm nowadays. There was dancing and singing for the duration and many pint pots were held defiantly aloft during Portrait Of My Wife.
Ears still ringing, we parted ways for the few short hours before the final gig in the North West….
LIVERPOOL – The Tung Auditorium
The fourth, final north-west venue and the third new venue! I had heard many good things about the Tung Auditorium, it has become an increasingly popular haunt amongst the folk fraternity in the last 18 months, so I had high hopes and was not disappointed. For me, this was instantly my favourite of the newer north-west venues, the heady cocktail of Liverpudlian hospitality, 400 person capacity, excellent facilities, spacious, comfy seats and world-class acoustics made this an instant win.
a sonorous delight
The set-list may have been identical, but the location elevated the repertoire to new heights – a special shoutout to the sound-desk who did an exemplary job. A real high-point for me was The Black Fox – an unashamed favourite of mine from the new album, but the acoustics and reverb of the Tung brought this tune alive with a depth, sophistication and joy, adding layers of richness, refinement and complexity that I had not experienced before and arguably the way that it should be experienced outside of Wistman’s Wood. The tremendous and well-balanced acoustics also allowed the audience to clearly hear the virtuso musicianship of Archie Churchill-Moss, whose diatonic button accordion was not always so audible the previous evening.
A half-hour interval allowed for the obligatory audience rehydration, and apparently for the band to catch up on a particulary important episode of Ninja Warrior UK. This athletic distraction resulted in Seth forgetting to retrieve his bazouki from backstage…Benji was heroically dispatched to rescue the forlorn instrument, much to the amusement and applause from the audience. All instruments now accounted for, we continued…
SPECTACULAR ACOUSTICS
The spectacular acoustics of the Tung were further evidenced during Seth’s off-mic Portrait Of My Wife, which effortlessly resounded throughout the auditorium. The evening was concluded with the encore of Scrumpy Set and Change, the latter was played with a ferocious accelerando that was as impressive as it was exhausting to dance to!
And that was that, but thankfully its only seven shortish weeks until Seth returns to the north, with Hexham, Glasgow, Settle, Holmfirth and Bakewell featuring on the northern-leg of his winter tour, limited tickets still available.
Four gigs and we haven’t yet mentioned Kitty Jay (or the solo Lady Of The Sea at the start of the second set when you’re willing him to fly into High St Rose, but maybe the band is needed for that)! The signature piece takes its usual spot at the end of the set and for long term watchers there’s the chance to spot any tweaks that Seth throws into the instrumental parts. This tour the sonic explorations seem to extend into a high pitched wailing that comes right from the left hand so far down the neck, he’s almost on the body of the fiddle. Psych Folk Space Rocking – expect the call from Hawkwind any time soon.
Meanwhile, see you in December…And May 2026 for the 20th anniversary tour for Freedom Fields. Oh and there’s even a new record in the works…
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