Plug ‘N’ Play

Plug & Play, Penrith. 6th April 2008 (Kirsty McGee and Mat Martin)

First of all, two apologies. Firstly I was late getting to the Players theatre this month so I missed the open slot, which by all accounts went well with 8 acts performing and all getting the appreciative applause of the audience. Secondly, the lateness of this review being published, as unforeseen circumstances conspired against me throughout the week.

Kirsty McGee took to the stage with bowler hat, Mat Martin and a large array of instruments that showed they were settling in for a good night of music and fun. Launching straight into “Lamb” with its foot-tapping melody and Mat wandering delicately through the song on Banjo had the PnP’ers on their side immediately. “Bliss” followed closely by “Killer Wasps” with its upbeat rhythm and impromptu wasp sounds from the audience, showed the skill and versatility of both Kirsty and Mat on differing instruments, allowing each other space to compliment the song without taking it over. The slow tango-esque “Dust Devils” got particular applause from the crowd as did “Bone Crusher” with the Banjo and Ukulele combination giving a fun, upbeat feel to the song. The variation of styles continued with “One Star”, a slow, almost hypnotic piece allowing Kirsty‘s vocals to reach every bit of the senses and draw you into the song. “Right Way Home” and a favourite of mine, “No Way to Treat a Friend” brought the session to a high and finishing of the first set with “Gunsore” had the crowd eagerly anticipating the second half.

The second half opened with the excellent “Sandman”, sung with feeling and sensitivity and reminding me of the old Torch Songs from the thirties. Changing the style immediately with “Alibi Blues” with its Yee-hah attitude showed how confident Kirsty and Mat are with their material. Generally people will stay with a theme for a few songs and then move to another style, however, Kirsty writes such good songs that I think whichever order you put them in, they would always blend well. A good example of this was the next song “Thank You”. A wonderful, melodic piece with excellent lyrics and sung with intense feeling and emotion making it for me the best song of the night. “Fresh Water” and “Sapho’s Lament” came next, with its great banjo solo from Mat. Beautifully sympathetic Banjo was also on the menu for the next song “Share Croppers” and the dual guitars played in “Coffee Coloured Strings” was very reminiscent of Suzanne Vega. “Plane Vapours” and “Faith” both had great applause from the audience as did the showpiece “Profit Song”. Raucously called back for an encore, Kirsty and Mat gave a fantastic A’capella song “Crow Pie” following up with “Betray My trust” had the crowd warmly applauding a fantastic night’s entertainment with some wonderful playing and singing. Kirsty has a wonderful soft voice which complements all of the songs she did tonight and thanks to the sterling efforts of Tom on sound, the balance of the different instruments remained excellent throughout the evening.

See you all on the 4th May for local rockers 3 Mile Smile doing their stuff both acoustic and amp’ed up. Check out the web site for further details www.plug-play.co.uk

Keep it live!!…Open Mike