Brilliant Barbara Dickson at the Liverpool Philharmonic

BARBARA DICKSON
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL
MARCH 19 2011

9/10

Legendary songstress Barbara Dickson, star of stage and screen has gone back to her traditional folk roots for her latest album, Words Unspoken, also the title of her latest countrywide tour.

It’s been two years since she played Liverpool, from where her mother heralded, and said she and her band had many happy memories of being in the city.

For a Liverpool audience it was also a great treat for her to return to the place where her fame took off when she starred in John Paul George Ring .....and Bert, the musical play by Willy Russell at the Liverpool Everyman in 1974.

At the Phil she gave us an eclectic set mixing songs from her new album and her lengthy career. Barbara started out singing in Scottish folk clubs in her teens and has gone on to world-wide acclaim. Her voice, at 63, is still pure and strong as she filled the hall with such well known songs as Bridge over Troubled Waters, Another Suitcase in Another Hall from Evita, and one of her early hits, the poignant Caravan, foregrounding her pure, strong voice that resonated round the whole theatre.

Dressed elegantly in a softly draped black dress Barbara, with big hair, was highlighted by a black starlit curtain on a stage washed by sweeping coloured spotlights. She was backed by her brilliant band, Troy Donockley on electric and acoustic guitar, bouzouki, uilleann pipes, whistles and vocal, Nick Holland, keyboard and vocals, Brad Lang, bass and vocals and Russell Field, on drums.

She included a diverse mix of songs including George Harrison’s Nothing’s Going to Change my Mind, from her If I Needed You album, of Beatles songs, a wonderful version of Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know, and a stripped down version of Love Hurts, made famous by the Everly Brothers.

Mixed in with these well-known classics were traditional songs, some in English some in Scottish dialect, including Jamie Raeburn, a haunting slow ballad about leaving Scotland for the USA, with haunting tones from Troy’s uilleann pipes, giving an evocative celtic air. She followed this with a James Taylor-penned ballad, Millworker, about the hard life of a woman with three mouths to feed, and the enigmatic 16th century Corpus Christi from her 2004 album Full Circle.

The Trees They Grow So High was another traditional ballad, from Bretton origins, that has been sung in different versions ‘all over the place’. Nick Holland accompanied her on vocals and lilting keyboard, with soaring synthetic strings, and the mellow electric guitar of Troy Donockley. There are, she said, many Scottish versions of this song, but they decided to set it to a traditional English tune, the result a beautiful addition to the show.

Included in the set, and on the opening track of her new album, was the vibrant new folksy song written by Barbara and Troy - The Magical West – inspired, she said, by a trip to the west of Ireland but now reminds her of the western isles each time she sings it. A full bodied song, it builds and builds, with multi instrumentation, yet still retaining its folk vibe. Other traditional songs included the magical King Orfeo from Shetland, Smile in Your Sleep about the Highland clearances set to a Gaelic melody, and Will Ye Gang Love? a song of tragedy, and a version of the better known O Waly Waly.

But for Liverpool audiences her rendition of Easy Terms and Tell Me It’s Not True from Blood Brothers, in which she starred in the pivotal role of Mrs Johnsone, cut right to the soul.

The whole two-hour show was rich in variety, quality and class giving us the wealth of her talent which has not diminished over the years. We were taken back over the decades and reminded of her great hits, whilst also being treated to ancient traditional songs that have stood the test of time. Just like Barbara Dickson herself.

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