It’s coming up to fifteen years since I first booked a ticket to see Gigspanner in concert. I had little idea what to expect, other than knowing they were the (then) side-project of long-time Steeleye Span fiddle-player, Peter Knight. From the moment, I saw them perform, however, I was utterly, utterly captivated.
Yes, there was some folk in there but many other influences besides. Alongside the English folk songs and Irish fiddle tunes, there were African rhythms, jazz influences, avante garde and much more besides. Since that first magical night, I’ve seen Gigspanner many times over the years, both in their original trio format and in their expanded ‘big band’ format. Although the latter brings in a whole new collection of influences and sounds, there’s still something perfectly magical about the stripped-back basic trio format. This has particularly been the case since a slight rejiggle in the line-up saw the induction of the hugely talented percussionist, Sacha Trochet, into the band. His playing brought Gigspanner’s already infectious rhythms to a whole new level and his performance at any gig is utterly mesmerising from start to finish.
That’s alongside, of course, the virtuoso fiddle-playing of folk legend Peter Knight and the enormously impressive semi-acoustic guitar playing of Roger Flack. The trio are something of an East Sussex institution, having been formed down the road in Hastings, so it’s lovely seeing them playing to a packed house in Bexhill tonight.
The set included some old favourites that I’ve become very familiar with over the years. However, there was plenty of new material, too (or at least the trio’s highly unique reworkings of some very old material). Old favourites included the always lovely-to-hear ‘Seagull’ and the breathtakingly beautiful ‘Butterfly’ while the new additions to the set included the jaunty ‘Sussex Waltz’ and a thrillingly sombre rendition of English folk staple, ‘John Barleycorn’.
One of the fascinating things about Gigspanner is that they most definitely have a trademark sound. You can tell instantly who it is even with completely unfamiliar material, yet the range of different influences and different musical textures that their performances can encompass from one song to the next can vary so dramatically.
Anyway, it seems as if we might be treated to a new album before too long, given the amount of stunning new material on offer tonight. Things began drawing to a close in more familiar fashion with that perennial Gigspanner/Steeleye Span favourite ‘Hard Times of Old England’ followed by a brilliantly other-worldly rendition of ‘King of the Faeries’, with an epic percussion workout from Trochet. A well-deserved encore came in the shape of another familiar favourite ‘Sharp Goes Walkabout’, described by Knight as what might have happened had Edwardian song collector, Cecil Sharp, gone looking for songs in Australia and ended up hooking up with a bunch of dope-smoking hippies. Another spectacular Gigspanner gig that, musically, can take you to places you’d never dreamed of going.
Related posts:
Album review – Gigspanner Big Band ‘Turnstone’
New book out this summer: ‘Steeleye Span 1970 to 1989 On Track: Every Album, Every Song’
Folk: album review – Peter Knight & John Spiers ‘Both In A Tune’
Gigspanner Big Band ‘Natural Invention’ album
Peter Knight’s Gigspanner ‘The Wife Of Urban Law’ album
Gigspanner Big Band at Hastings 2016
