Keiran Halpin
admin September 3rd, 2006
By Andy Johnson
The long awaited Plug & Play season at the Penrith Players theatre got off to a cracking start with a good crowd and great playing.
The traditional “plug in and play” slot started the proceedings off with the highly talented and versatile Bill Turner taking to the stage. The warm tone from his 12-string guitar complementing his voice through his renditions of “Pretty in pink”, Mike Hardings wonderfully poignant “No Mans Land” about the England v Germany football match on the Somme and, finally, the Eagles “Take it easy”.
Next up was Ken Wilcock with two fine instrumental pieces on Dobro. “Working on the new railroad” and “Rosalie” showing his fingerpicking style off to great effect. He was then joined on stage by Jackie Knox, Andy Johnson on stick bass, Keith Knox on mandolin in their guise of “Mrs Knox and the Good Time Boys”, belting out three numbers in their jug band style. “Rich Girl”, “Don’t you ease me in” and “I’m gonna get it” all had the audience tapping their feet and applauding.
Finally, Phil Caton with his trusty ukulele, played a self penned blues number “Dead Cat Blues” giving ample scope to show his unique take on “Uke” playing to great effect.
After a short break, the man who people had come to see took to the stage and didn’t disappoint. Kieran Halpin has a fantastic ability of grabbing the audience as soon as he plays.
Most of the songs in the first half were from his latest album “Box of words and tunes”, of which the title song was warmly applauded. From the autobiographical “A bitter pill” to the powerful “Letter to America” about George W. Bush’s jaunt into world policing, all the songs were sung with tremendous feeling and his guitar playing, from light picking to full on in-your-face strumming was, as always, just right for the song. He finished the first set off with “Angel of Paradise” from the “Moving Air” album, a personal favourite of mine.
The second set continued in the same vein with songs from his back catalogue including “Raglan Road” from the Akoustik album and “Berlin Calling” and “Closing time in Paradise” from the “Moving Air” album. Kieran dedicated “Glory Days” to guitarist Chris Jones, who played with him for many years and appeared on the Moving Air album, who unfortunately died recently. Roared back on stage for an encore, Kieran left the audience with the feeling of having seen a great man play great songs.
See you in October.
Keep it live!!