Review of Session A9 and Lau in Perth Concert Hall

May 13 2011 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

LUCKY Perth was the confluence of separate tours by two of the most thrilling live acts to emerge from the Scottish scene in the past decade – but why was there not a flood of music lovers to Perth Concert Hall for this electrifying one-off double bill?

First on stage were the three musical maestros who interrupt their busy schedules to come together as Lau.

Each Lau member – Aidan O’Rourke (fiddle), Kris Drever (guitar and vocals) and Martin Green (accordion) – is a multi-award winner, and since forming Lau in 2004 they’ve gathered armfuls of plaudits, including three consecutive years of being crowned ‘Best Group’ at the BBC Radio Two Folk Awards.

Their strength partly lies in the pool of knowledge on which they draw. There’s also super on-stage chemistry between the three, a warm winning way with their audience and a jaw-dropping musical creativity which rockets traditional music into outer space.

The Lau trademark of the slow build into soaring crescendos was put to brilliant use in the wonderful concert hall acoustics. A couple of gremlins on the opening night of the Lau tour only added colour to the proceedings.

Post interval, the trailblazers in the Scottish supergroup genre, Session A9, took over where Lau had left over, and then some!

Seven top-drawer musicians in full flow produced more energy than the massed numbers of Scotland’s growing of wind farms – and the fine collection of male species on stage was far more pleasing on the eye than the turbine abominations!

The ‘boys’ may or may not take offence if they are described as ‘improving with age’. Ten years after Session A9 was conceived through informal music sessions up and down the A9, and having had some members come and go in that time, Session A9 has matured into a lean, mean music-making machine with a fine turn of banter.

Much of their material of scintillating jigs and reels is home-grown – notably from fiddlers Charlie McKerron, Gordon Gunn and Adam Sutherland – yet some of the concert highlights were covers, including John Martyn’s ‘One for the Road’, Jackson Browne’s ‘These Days’ and Dylan’s ‘Dark Eyes’ (such impressive singing of these by guitarist Marc Clement – more from vocals from him, please!); and a fantastic double header of contrasting Gordon Duncan tunes (Belly Dancer and The Sleeping Tune) which underlined the versatility of both composer and performers.

As this tumult of traditional music came to a close, the final wave of enjoyable excellence saw Lau return to the stage for a full-on set of reels.

(Session A9 are driving off to points far from Perthshire but Lau on tour can be tracked down to the Tolbooth in Stirling on May 21 then from June 17-20 they go straight up the A9 to Aviemore for the Insider Festival.)

Alison Anderson