The Live Room at Saltaire

Oct 6 2024

The Paul McKenna Band

Sunday 29th September 2024

Review, photos and videos by Keith Belcher

29th September 2024. The return visit of the Paul McKenna Band who last visited on 15th February 2022. It was a great night then and a great night in 2024 as well. A different line up, Paul on main vocals and guitar, two usual band members in Conal McDonagh on pipes and whistles, Robbie Grieg on fiddle. Adam Rhodes of Imar stood in for Conor Markey on bouzouki and Eoghainn Beaton playing bodhran. Last time we had Ewan Baird on bodhran. Conor was tending to urgent family matters.

I’ve pretty much given up detailed reviews but here’s one that may help to investigate Paul’s back catalogue.

A great night of music with Paul’s very distinctive voice leading the way. The pace and delivery were mixed. Opening with the uptempo Mickey Dam, the only song that features the town Milngavie (pronounced Mil-gai) in the lyrics. From that into Beyond The Day, a gentle and delicate song, a Paul co-write with Canada’s Dave Gunning. Paul continued with a tip of the hat to Christy Moore’s singing of One Last Cold Kiss, a story of a bereaved Nantucket Swan whose mate for life was shot by a hunter. Strangely, that song had heavy rock origins as it was written by Gail Collins and Felix Pappalardi of Mountain who gave it a heavy rock treatment by their band, Mountain. I think the versions by Paul, Christy and Luka Bloom are more apt and fitting to the song content.

One Last Cold Kiss was the first song played from the new CD EP Setting Sun. Solid Ground from the CD followed, a Dougie MacLean song. Dougie being best known for Caledonia but he has written a lot superb songs than Caledonia which is probably the unofficial Scottish National Anthem. On a roll, Western Island, also from the new CD followed.

A cover of another Scottish legend, Archie Fisher. A Paul song Indiana was next. Some great audience involvement during No Ash Will Burn, a song I first heard by Molly O’Brien (Tim’s sister), covered by many people but written by Walt Aldridge. Paul taught the chorus to the audience and they took it from there. Throughout the set the interplay between all instruments was superb, Adam Rhodes stayed mainly in the shadows at the back of the stage but the bouzouki playing was excellent.

The bodhran playing was also excellent, reminding me of the great Andy Cutting on boxes, everything was there without being prominent or getting in the way of the song, there were some lovely touches which brought comments from Paul and applause from the audience. Paul gave detailed back stories about all the songs, what they meant to him, how they came about. Even a tale of living in Orlando for a year (in a Mickey Mouse suit!). It’s always great to have the song introduced properly, so many artists give no background or even titles. Many could learn much from Paul’s rapport with an audience.

Only one CD on the Merch table , Setting Sun, with due deference to the ever decreasing numbers of CD players there was also a coaster which gave the appropriate download code for Bandcamp. Anyone unaware of Bandcamp operations should check it out as you can download in a variety of formats and on certain Fridays all monies go directly the artists. Jeff Bezos doesn’t do that! It also takes many plays on Spotify etc to get enough money for a cup of coffee! The role of a grass roots travelling musician is generally not a glamorous one.

A Tim O’Brien song, John Riley opened the second set. You got the feeling that Paul is a great admirer of Tim O’Brien (who will be back at TLR early next year). I share the feeling. I am a long time fan. Tim and Molly O’Brien were the first artists to record a Gillian Welch song, way back when. A Paul composition The Dream followed. The much covered Banks Of The Moy followed, some debate as to the writer of the song, some list it as traditional.

An interesting co write between Tim O’Brien and Paul was next, Can You See Me Sister?, a song all about Thomas Jefferson’s many illegitimate children, they were born slaves but emancipated on his deathbed. To close the set Paul played Home, a song about his love for the city of Glasgow and how it always calls him home, no matter where he is in the world. Home will always be home. The usual pantomime of leaving the stage with Paul returning to perform a solo version of Cold Missouri Waters. The band then joined the stage for a cracking version of John Spillane’s song Passage West. The instrument playing and interplays was superb, the singing excellent, the audience participation and appreciation also excellent. I have no doubts that Paul and his band will be very welcome to return for a third visit.