[Honey] Eddi @ The Village, Dublin, 02 Nov 03

Hi all,
       Last Sunday I had the great pleasure of seeing Eddi for the first time in 
almost two years @ The Village in Dublin. Here's the set list (in roughly the right 
order), and after it, some rememberances for those of you who care to read on:

Simple Soul
Charlie is My Darling
Jamie, Come Try Me
Wings on My Heels
Lucky Penny 
Prodigal Daughter
Comedy Waltz
Willie Stewart
Ye Jacobites
Wild Mountainside
Go and Sit Upon the Grass <snippet>
As Time Goes By/Red, Red Rose
Follow My Tears
Hummingbird
Patience of Angels
Auld Lang Syne

Eddi came on about about 8:30 to introduce Alasdair Roberts, fellow Scot and her 
support act. She promised to return "when I've had some plastic surgery and taken off 
my glasses". Roberts' music is pure folk ballad stuff, quite slow and  definitely in 
contrast to Eddi's ouevre. The persistant talk of many members of the audience put him 
off I think.

As for Eddi she arrived with a "treat" for us all. On-stage with her, were: Phil 
Cunnigham,Christine Henson, John McCusker, Ewan Vernal, Ian Carr and the ever-reliable 
Boo Hewerdine (he got the biggest cheer of the 'guests', which I thought was fitting). 
I'm so grateful to Eddi and the group for the surprise, as this was the first 
full-band performance I've seen of her. The full sound really added a new dimension, 
especially to non-Burns songs.

Eddi was in fine form, dancing up a storm. Some higlights included her furious 
knee-slapping on "Jamie" and a damn sexy hula (?) at the, what Eddi termed, "maori" 
bits ("hi-yah, hi-yah" etc) on "Follow My Tears". Speaking of dancing, Eddi encouraged 
the audience to dance at the reel part of "Willie Stewart". Considering the distinct 
lack of space in the venue, Phil sarcastically replied: "I think there's some room 
over THERE".

Eddi got the crowd singing along on "Charlie", "Lucky Penny" and "Auld Lang Syne" (the 
last of which, she got everybody to hold hands, new-years-style!).

She told us John McCusker had told her that "Comedy Waltz" was his favourite FA song, 
when they first met at a folk festival some years back. And at 4 in the morning on a 
beach Eddi had taught one of the guys the melody, then she sang it while John and 
then-girlfriend Kate Rusby waltzed to it in the sand (which drew a collective Awwwwww! 
from the the audience). Of course, as Eddi told us this John had the quick-wittedness 
to make ‘drinking’ and ‘smoking’ gestures behind Eddi’s back. The audience, however, 
wasn’t convinced. Eddi waltzed around the stage with an imaginary partner for the 
instrumental bits.

Eddi also told us that “Wild Mountainside” was written by John Douglas as a means of 
luring Eddi back to Scotland, which I hadn’t heard before.

There’s quite a playful relationship between Eddi and Phil, and she made a joke about 
him being her boyfriend, which led to them blowing kisses to each other for much of 
“Red, Red Rose”.

Eddi got the crowd singing on “Follow My Tears”, and the sound of the whole crowd 
singing “From my eyes to the river…” was beautiful. 

When Eddi began fielding requests, I shouted out “Auld Lang Syne”, and after a few 
songs I was lucky enough to hear it. It was the better-known melody (I have to admit 
to preferring the one on the album) which ensured a singalong from the audience, 
hand-in-hand.

All in all, it was a great night. Let’s hope it won’t be son long next time. Hope I 
haven’t bored you all!

Bfn,

John Barrett 



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