Hello
I was wondering how would you rate this dvd on a scale from 1-10.
What is Michael McGoldricks role in this DVD, does he do anything spectacular or amazing. All the details please!
From
Mini
This is a lovely DVD, a must-have for fans of Kate. Beautifully produced, gorgeous concert hall, warm ambience, and some nice extras on the disc.
Mike McGoldrick is very much a side man in the band, I wouldn’t say anything he does in the concert is particularly “amazing,” but simply tasteful and understated, very much in a supporting role for the singer, which is as it should be.
I’m not normally a fan of contemporary “trad bands,” but I enjoy Kate’s music and found this DVD entrancing even if Kate’s stage patter feels too rehearsed and self-consciously cute at times. It all changes when they start playing the music, you can see she’s feeling the songs deeply and at that point it feels genuine to me rather than a “performance.”
Second for Brad’s comments. No pyrotechnics from Mr. McGoldrick. It’s all about Kate which is just fine. She has one of THE best voices in folk music, period. It’s a wonderful DVD though there maybe some format troubles for North Americans.
Get it if your a Kate Rusby fan. Skip it if you’re just after McGoldrick’s acrobatics although for all of the McGoldrick wannabes this is an excellent lesson in how a very innovative player can be subtle.
Cheers,
Aaron
Thanks for the favourable review, guys. I was looking to buy this and what you described is just what I want.
BTW, I don’t know if what I’m about to say holds good for North America and Japan but those of us on the other formatting protocal (Europe, Australia) are fine if we have new TVs. DVEDs play OK wherever they’re from. They don’t have to be digital TVs. On older TVs, American DVDs won’t play properly without an adapter and those are not very good. I’m in the strange position of having a newer TV which seems to be dying, or in need of serious surgery, and an older TV which works fine but won’t play a lot of my DVDs.
There’s a North American formatted DVD available from Compass Records, which is where I got it. No problems at all in that regard.
On McGoldrick, I think my opinion of him as a musician grew after watching this, precisely because he holds back so much; there’s no ego-driven need to strut his stuff, he’s simply tuned into the music and adding the right touches in the right places. So many instrumentalists make the mistake of thinking they need to play all the time when accompanying a singer. It’s the good ones who know when not to play.
For me, the real star among the instrumentalists on this DVD is Andy Cutting – for his playing, which is brilliant of course, but also for what he adds to the arrangements and his obvious love for the music he’s playing.