Review of Roddy Woomble and his band at Perth Theatre

Nov 4 2011 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

SCOTTISH singer-songwriter/Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble thanked his audience for opting for his Perth Theatre gig rather than the Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings bash at the Concert Hall.

It was our pleasure, Roddy, and thank-you for giving us a wonderful evening!

A good-size and very eclectic audience from teens to senior citizens basked in Roddy’s warm tones and endearing personality, complemented by the musicianship of his four-strong band.

The Roddy Woomble sound has veered off the Idlewild rock track to take a more relaxed, folkie path – while still adding ‘rock’ hues to his overall colourful music landscape.

And much of the landscape focuses on the Western Isles where the Carnoustie-raised boy is now based and where his excellent second solo album, ‘The Impossible Song and Other Songs’, was recorded.

Roddy’s lyrics are full of beautiful imagery and his catchy tunes are arranged to perfection. The band line-up was spot-on for the theatre stage and acoustics. Talented young musician Sorren Maclean was on acoustic guitar and harmonies, Gavin Fox on bass guitar and Danny Grant played drums.

Star of the band was Seonaid Aitken from Fife whose versatility shone on keyboards, vocals and especially on fiddle. Indeed, Roddy graciously stepped stage left on a number of occasions while Seonaid gave free flow to her soaring fiddle solos, bringing many of Roddy’s songs to a breath-taking coda.

Much of Roddy’s set was devoted to his own songs from the new album and his solo debut, ‘My Secret is My Silence’. Stand-out main set numbers included ‘Tangle Wire’ – a lovely narrative about a car journey to Skye, ‘I Came Down from the Mountain’ and ‘The Weight of Years’, which Roddy co-wrote with Edwyn Morgan for his Ballads of the Book project.

The set was also sprinkled with catchy covers – ‘Travelling Man’ was Roddy’s perfectly suited tribute to the late, great Bert Jansch, and I loved his toe-tapping ‘Niel Gow’s Apprentice’ penned by Michael Marra for Butterstone’s Dougie MacLean – Seonaid fiddle accompaniment suitably fitting the song.

Time passed in a flash, and as enthusiastic applause filled the auditorium Roddy and co returned for a two-song encore, firstly a super version of Idlewild’s ‘You Held the World in Your Arms Tonight’ and closing with Roddy in fine voice for the upbeat ‘Roll Along’.

Alison Anderson