BLAZIN' FIDDLES

Live Review

Birmingham Town Hall (2010)

You will be hard pressed to find fiddlers who play their instruments with more enthusiasm, gusto or expertise than the six members of Scottish folk band Blazin’ Fiddles.

Their informal but faultless playing turned the Town Hall into a traditional folk club reminiscent of people gathering in the Scottish highlands and islands, from where the band originate, to enjoy an evening of music and merrymaking.

This said, folk music was never played quite like this with Bruce MacGregor in full flight hammering his instrument, like Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen, through a series of reels and jigs.

MacGregor, the driving force behind the band’s mission to keep alive the diverse sounds of fiddle playing from the wilds of Scotland, is more than matched by fellow fiddlers Allan Henderson, Iain MacFarlane, Jenna Reid - the most recent band member - Anna Massie, who also doubles up on guitar and Frank Zappa lookalike Andy Thorburn who provides the keyboard.

Blazin’ Fiddles moved easily from reels and jigs to slow airs and self-penned renditions produced in the style of the Scottish folk tradition.

Few if any of the tunes will be familiar to anyone other than folk fans and followers of the band. but their enthusiasm for their music had the half full hall stomping and clapping like it was Hogmany.