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Season’s greetings sithee Kate Rusby at Christmas
Malvern Theatres
***** I FIRST saw Kate Rusby a year ago when she came
to Malvern near the end of her annual Christmas tour. I was very much
looking forward to her return visit this December and was in no way
disappointed. Rusby’s warmth and down
to earth friendliness set the atmosphere right from the start, as she
comes onto the stage with her mug of Yorkshire tea and introduces the
first song of the evening, Here We Come
A-Wassailing from her 2008 album,
Sweet Bells. Obviously a huge fan of the Yuletide season and
associated traditions, Rusby has two full albums of Christmas tunes,
plus a live DVD. Her second song tonight, Joy to the World, is
taken from her second Christmas album, the 2011 While Mortals Sleep.
‘Ooh, I like that one,’ beams Rusby as the applause dies down. ‘It
sounds a bit Mexican.’ As she explained to us last year, and as she must
explain countless times over these tours, the focus of these gigs is the
vast catalogue of carols local to her native South Yorkshire. In Victorian times, certain versions of carols
were thrown out of the churches for being too rousing and hearty, so the
folk of Yorkshire took these tunes to their local hostelries where they Rusby tells us that at some point in her twenty
two years of touring, she realised that not every region has this
tradition, so she decided to take some of these songs around the country
in a dedicated Christmas tour. She has since discovered that there is a
similar Cornish tradition, and later in the evening she shares with us
the Cornish Wassailing Song.
Accompanied on stage by various combinations of
musicians, with instruments as diverse as melodeon, double bass and
banjo, and in many parts accompanied by a five piece brass section,
Rusby charms us through the evening, and seems genuinely thrilled to be
back in Malvern, surrounded on stage by ‘the boys’ and doing what she
has always loved to do. It is a credit not only to the tunes’ inspired
arrangements but also to her sound engineer brother Joe Rusby that
despite the ten musicians on stage, Rusby’s voice is never overpowered,
and despite its gentle timbre, it is always her voice which stands out
and lifts the songs way above other renditions. Later she introduces a non-Christmas song which
she says she learnt from her mum and has now taught to her children. She
tells us that her five year old daughter singing murder ballads in the
school playground may not go down well. The final song before the break is as impressive
as any in the set, and I don’t ever remember hearing a version of
Winter Wonderland before that sounded fresh and new and made me
forget that I’d probably heard that same song a hundred times that year
before advent even began. After the interval, Rusby shares not only the
title track from recently released album Ghost, but also her own
ghost story. She seems to have a friendly spirit living in her current
home, which she and other family members have seen, and which her mum
has since discovered was well known to the former occupiers. Utterly unperturbed, Rusby’s reaction to the
haunting was to pen a tune for the ghostly entity and then name the
album in its honour. Apparently the ghost has not been seen since. At one point in the second half, Rusby leaves the
stage so that ‘the boys’ can fully show off their skills. Their section
is introduced with gusto and humour by Rusby’s guitarist husband Damien
O’Kane. It includes three tunes written by members of the
band, with phrases of familiar Christmas tunes woven in. There are a few
bars of a funky folky Santa Claus is Coming to Town, snatches of
Jingle Bell Rock, a hint of Pachelbel’s Canon, and strange time
signatures that my mind can’t quite follow. Back on stage, Rusby
introduces Little Town of Bethlehem. ‘This is one of my
favourites,’ she enthuses. ‘Actually, they all are.’ The stage is again beautifully yet simply set,
with huge white snowflakes as a backdrop, apparently crocheted by a very
nice woman in Sheffield. The lighting (by ‘James number two’) is pretty
and effective, changing colour schemes for different numbers, through
white and yellow, turquoise and lilac, and festive reds and greens,
moving our focus from Rusby to the brass section for their star turns
and then back to Rusby again. There are more songs from this album, and more
Christmas tunes, which Rusby urges us to join in with: the perky Kris
Kringle and three completely different versions of While
Shepherds Watched. I must say I love all three of these, from the
upbeat Hail Chime On, to the slightly more sombre Cranbrook
and the crowd pleasing final tune of the evening’s second half, Sweet
Bells. As Rusby tells us how a Kentish cobbler penned a
tune for While Shepherds Watched, (he lived in Cranbrook, hence
the song’s name), I can’t help feeling that if the Victorians hadn’t
thrown all these lively variations out of church, there may well be a
far greater and heartier attendance at advent and carol services up and
down the land. The tune is now more familiar as that of On Ilkley
Moor Baht ‘at, albeit without the strains of Jingle Bells
blended in. Following massive applause after Sweet Bells,
we are treated to an encore, a Yorkshire version of We Wish You a
Merry Christmas, which again, is a tricky song to breathe new life
into. They did it though, of course, and like the rest of the night’s
performance, the song was gentle and uplifting, with a generous helping
of festive cheer and joyful audience participation. A wonderful evening,
and a fine way to start the Christmas break. If you’re quick you may catch a festive Kate
Rusby in Harrogate, Huddersfield or Nottingham, and her spring tour
starts in April 2015. Amy Rainbow
19-12-14
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sang and drank together every weekend from Armistice Day to New Year.