Dar Williams is a singer/songwriter from Chappagua, New York, whose music style ranges from country and western to pop rock. Her 2014 UK tour brought her to The Greystones pub in Sheffield on Monday 10th March. Tickets were £14 each, which was very reasonably priced for the evening’s entertainment. The event was held in the pub’s Backroom, which is just about big enough for the audience of around 100, although there wasn’t much foot-tapping room.
The support band appeared on-stage at 8pm for their set. Malojian are a duet from Northern Ireland, with Stevie Scullion playing acoustic guitar and harmonica and Joe McGurgan playing double bass. There were some speed bumps at the beginning of the set: the double bass made a disconcerting crackling sound, particularly on the lowest of notes. However, the pair laughed this off, saying that the third member of their band is a duck (their accent makes the word “crack” sound like “quack”), and they played well despite the distraction. The problem was soon solved by the sound-man and we were able to sit back and enjoy the show.
The band played a collection of songs written by Scullion, which ranged from the poignant The Old Timer to the whimsical Bathtub Blues, which was commissioned by his 6-year old daughter. Communion Girls, my personal favourite of their songs, is both humourous and a disturbing insight into the desensitisation of the victims of war: when growing up during the Irish Troubles, Scullion would daydream about earning the admiration of the girls he saw when he went to mass by saving them from a Protestant attack.
Dar Williams took to the stage at 9pm for a fantastic set that ranged from the lively As Cool As I Am to the touching I Have Been Around The World. Each song was preceded by an anecdote or explanation of how she came to write each song and what she learned in the process, told with dry wit and self-deprecating humour. Williams has spent a lot of time watching people being people, and as a result both her songs and her stories offer entertaining insights into the human condition. With a performance that was as thought-provoking as it was lively, it was an enjoyable evening all round.
The highlight of the evening was when Williams called for audience participation, and we were invited to sing along, no matter how badly, to The Ocean, As Cool As I Am, and Iowa. This was in preparation for when Malojian came back out and joined Williams on stage for a cover of Fred Neil’s Everybody’s Talkin’, and for Williams’s final song When I Was A Boy, which had been requested by one of the tomboys in the audience. Williams had been interacting with us, joking with us and taking requests throughout her set, and that personal touch is another reason the performance was so entertaining.
If I were to make any criticism of Williams’s performance, I would say that she stumbled a little over the words to some of her newer songs. However, this was not enough to detract from the overall enjoyment of her music, her stories, and her vivid personality, and the gig ranks as one of the best I have ever seen.
The support band appeared on-stage at 8pm for their set. Malojian are a duet from Northern Ireland, with Stevie Scullion playing acoustic guitar and harmonica and Joe McGurgan playing double bass. There were some speed bumps at the beginning of the set: the double bass made a disconcerting crackling sound, particularly on the lowest of notes. However, the pair laughed this off, saying that the third member of their band is a duck (their accent makes the word “crack” sound like “quack”), and they played well despite the distraction. The problem was soon solved by the sound-man and we were able to sit back and enjoy the show.
The band played a collection of songs written by Scullion, which ranged from the poignant The Old Timer to the whimsical Bathtub Blues, which was commissioned by his 6-year old daughter. Communion Girls, my personal favourite of their songs, is both humourous and a disturbing insight into the desensitisation of the victims of war: when growing up during the Irish Troubles, Scullion would daydream about earning the admiration of the girls he saw when he went to mass by saving them from a Protestant attack.
Dar Williams took to the stage at 9pm for a fantastic set that ranged from the lively As Cool As I Am to the touching I Have Been Around The World. Each song was preceded by an anecdote or explanation of how she came to write each song and what she learned in the process, told with dry wit and self-deprecating humour. Williams has spent a lot of time watching people being people, and as a result both her songs and her stories offer entertaining insights into the human condition. With a performance that was as thought-provoking as it was lively, it was an enjoyable evening all round.
The highlight of the evening was when Williams called for audience participation, and we were invited to sing along, no matter how badly, to The Ocean, As Cool As I Am, and Iowa. This was in preparation for when Malojian came back out and joined Williams on stage for a cover of Fred Neil’s Everybody’s Talkin’, and for Williams’s final song When I Was A Boy, which had been requested by one of the tomboys in the audience. Williams had been interacting with us, joking with us and taking requests throughout her set, and that personal touch is another reason the performance was so entertaining.
If I were to make any criticism of Williams’s performance, I would say that she stumbled a little over the words to some of her newer songs. However, this was not enough to detract from the overall enjoyment of her music, her stories, and her vivid personality, and the gig ranks as one of the best I have ever seen.