Na-Mara hasn't played many support slots in recent times, but we were very pleased to be invited to support folk royalty, Nancy Kerr and James Fagan at an Ely Folk Club concert. Sadly, for all concerned, Nancy was suffering after a painful dental procedure and unable to perform. However, James Fagan managed to encourage the multi-talented Tim van Eyken to perform with him for the evening. Good friends and bandmates from times past this proved to be a beautiful reunion of great talents.
The unfathomable mysteries of our car SATNAV, Camilla, caused us more than a little consternation as we set off from St. Albans by suggesting that we were going to be tight for time for our sound check at Ely Folk Club. Using some algorithm we haven’t yet fathomed, she predicted a journey time of around 100 minutes compared to our phone SATNAVs’ 80 minutes. Naturally, we followed the phone’s preferred route and, indeed, arrived at the venue in plenty of time.
Ely Folk Club is now held in the Arkenstall Village Centre, near Haddenham, 7 miles southwest of Ely. It is a large venue with excellent acoustics and good parking. There isn’t a bar on site, but club members can bring their own drinks, and the room is nicely set out with two long rows of tables. Al very nice. Very comfortable.
Having arrived in good time, we popped into the venue to say ‘hello’ to club organisers and found the room a hive of activity with a goodly number of club members setting out tables and chairs while sound technician for the evening, Dee, was organising the PA. Not wanting to get in the way, the three of us retreated back to the car park to have our (now traditional) sandwiches and fruit ahead of the gig.
It was a gorgeous summer's evening, and, after a few minutes, club organiser Ruth Bramley popped out for a chat. We haven't seen Ruth for many years, and it was great to catch up with all her news and to be warmed up by her infectious energy. While we chatted, James Fagan arrived for his sound check, Tim van Eyken arriving soon afterwards.
Sarnies demolished, we decamped back into the venue to watch James and Tim do their sound check and to get ready ourselves. Dee created a wonderful soundscape for James and Tim and, by swapping a classical guitar for a melodeon, our setup proved reasonably similar. Dee was the epitome of efficiency throughout the sound check and did a great job for us.
It is usually the case for gigs that the main act sound checks before the support. This is entirely logical as it is clearly important that the main attraction for the evening has the most attention and the least stress through the sound checking process but it also means that, during the concert itself, the support’s sound equipment and instruments can be peeled away easily, leaving the main act’s sound arrangements as originally finalised. And, so, minutes after our sound check was completed, we were on at 7:30 on the dot.
We performed five numbers in our half hour slot and were warmly congratulated on our short set by audience members at both half time and full time.
James and Tim then took to the stage for an excellent first set. They started off with ‘On the Banks of the Condamine’ and then moved from Australia to New Zealand with Paul Metser’s classic ‘Farewell to the Gold’. Given their lack of rehearsal time, James and Tim provided a great first set of songs and instrumentals, traditional and contemporary. They didn’t even break stride when James bust a string on his bouzouki.
After the 30-minute break, James and Tim picked up from where they'd left off, with a version of Robb Johnson's ‘Herald of Free Enterprise’. Movingly, later on, Tim sang ‘When First I Came to Caledonia’, in memory of Norma Waterson. For an encore, the pair finished the evening with a rousing rendition of Alistair Hulett's powerful song, ‘Blue Murder’.
As we packed our gear away and James and Tim were doing the same, we were able to have a brief chat with them and to thank James for the very generous words about our support slot he’d spoken halfway through the second set.
After saying our goodbyes to James, Tim and Ruth, and thanking Dee for all her hard work, it was back in the car, and with phone SATNAVs at the ready (Camilla, being in disgrace for the evening) we raced home without incident. Given the 10:00pm finish at Ely Folk Club, we were all home nice and early.
Many thanks to Ruth and all at Ely Folk Club for the invitation to perform, to Dee for the lovely soundscape she created for us, and to James and Tim for their kind words and supreme musicianship. We also wish Nancy Kerr the speediest and fullest of recoveries and look forward to hearing her and James again in the coming years.