Seth Lakeman ramps up the volume
The volume was the first clue that this was no traditional folk music concert. Seth Lakeman and his band play very loud indeed.
Seth Lakeman
Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton
The volume was the first clue that this was no traditional folk music concert. Seth Lakeman and his band play very loud indeed.
They also play very well, particularly multi-instrumentalist Lakeman himself, strumming on a small tenor guitar and launching into blistering violin solos.
Indeed, the high-point of the night was a tour-de-force solo version of the haunting Kitty Jay, accompanied only by his foot keeping time on a drum. It concluded to a roar of approval from an appreciative Wulfrun Hall audience.
This was as far as you could get from the traditional finger-in-the-ear, bearded men in pullovers image of folk as you could get. Lakeman is a clean-cut 33 and most of the band looked as young, or younger.
The band includes Benji Kirkpatrick on bouzouki and mandolin. A regular in fellow-new folkies Bellowhead, he is the son of Shropshire-based accordionist John Kirkpatrick, a onetime member of Steeleye Span and well-known figure in music circles.
Lakeman and his band are clearly from the "new wave" of folk musicians, determined to popularise their brand of music. Hence there was no cod-medieval language or "walking out in the month of May"; these are tales of love, loss and betrayal with more than a hint of the mystical.
Poor Man's Heaven, Solomon Brown, King and Country, were all delivered with a vigour that had the crowd jumping. Folk music is clearly alive and well.
