Skip to content
Elly Roberts reviews
at Stiwt Theatre Rhos, Wrexham, N.WalesTuesday 27th April 2004
Welsh eyes were smiling as The Fureys and Davey Arthur,turned on the Irish charm at the Stiwt Theatre in Rhos near Wrexham. Droppingin as part of their three stage UK tour for 2004, the Irish folksters have justcelebrated 25 years as one of Irelands leading bands.
Sadly, now down to a quintet after the sudden death of angel voiced bassistDerek McCormack, they managed to soldier on in true troubadour fashion. This,their second visit in twelve months, and a show in Shrewsbury did not help theattendance figures, however they turned on the style. The combo, led by charismaticfrontman Eddie Furey (right with Davey Arthur), thrilled the hundred strong crowd with EmeraldIsle gems. Basically following last years format, Eddie told jokes betweensongs and theyre always good ones too.
Their broad church of traditional and contemporary music still has mass appeal.Its not just the music thats so wonderful, but their versatility, as they regularlymove from one instrument to another with consummate ease, such as squeeze box,mandolin, acoustic guitar, banjo and bodhran. All were used to maximum effect astheir casually strolled through a setlist that both lifts the soul and almostmakes you weep. Many a time I had a lump in my throat as they gave tributes totheir late friend McCormack, and brother Paul. The content was littered withstories which we can all identify with – lost love, drunkenness, betrayal, andone hell of a lot of humour. This was reflected in their happy goy lucky presentation, which is a major part of their winning formula.
Instrumentally they were quite stunning, but what gripped me the most was theirvocal harmony which puts the icing on the cake, as found on the opener Clare To Here,and Steal Away. They also upped the atmosphere with foot tapperslike McShane, and Mad Lady. Lashings of accordion and mandolinby Monty Mooney and Steve Leech gave great texture to the gentleballad The Grand Affair. Other highlights included Charlie ChaplinsSing A Song with George Furey (right) sublime solo, Sweet Sixteen andRed Rose Café which brought the biggest applause.
Davey Arthur featured heavily as expected, and gave a formidable performancethroughout, dazzling everyone with his skills on Masons Apron. Theirtribute CD to Charlie Chaplin is due for release this year in the States andSwitzerland.
Review & pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004.
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.