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Review: Dan McKinnon at Cleckheaton Folk Festival, West Yorkshire. |
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Only the night before playing Cleckheaton, he'd received a rapturous welcome from the near-capacity crowd at York's renowned Black Swan folk club, but his energy was undiminished when he took to the stage at the Commercial for the first of his five scheduled appearances at Clecky. Much of the audience, having just endured an indifferent first-half to that particular concert, was on the point of dwindling away, but folks were persuaded to stay and they were sure glad they did, for Dan put them fully in thrall the moment he began to sing, and held their attention expertly throughout his over-too-soon 45-minute set. The mark of a true professional is to be able to perform several sets during the course of a festival with little if any duplication of material, and Dan passed that test with flying colours. The sheer range of his writing is quietly stunning too, from a heartfelt tribute to Canada's 'War Brides' (Kith And Kin) and a heartwarming exploration of long-term relationships (The Same Pillow) to a wry look at the ageing process (This Side Of The Sod) and a lovely nostalgic essay conveying the essence of Aesop's Fables with almost childlike simplicity. In fact, listening to Dan's songs I've been more than once reminded of my good friend (and prolific songwriter) George Papavgeris, especially in terms of Dan's innate and overwhelming humanity and the healthy good sense of his worldview. Comparing the two songsmiths, their musical idioms are equally accessible yet subtly different though both steeped in tradition; as personalities, they share that wonderful quality of deep big-hearted integrity, and it came as no surprise to learn that they've been firm friends since first meeting a few years back.
However, so patently obvious is Dan's intense empathy with Stan's writing that Dan's personal renditions of this repertoire are invariably well nigh incomparable. This long afternoon set was therefore so very special an occasion, one to be savoured at leisure and one to which my memory has since returned often. The unplanned encore (Dan had thought two hours would test anyone's staying-power on such a sweltering afternoon how wrong he was proved!) was a request from the audience: Sailor's Rest may be less often heard than some other of Stan's songs, but Dan's impromptu performance and complete advocacy was utterly winning. Now the crying shame is that to my knowledge Dan's not yet got round to recording any of Stan's songs! Yes, Dan's a truly lovely guy who really cares about his music and those to whom he's singing; you owe it to yourself to discover his talent at the earliest opportunity (and hurrah, he's set to tour the UK again next May!). |