Speigeltent is a large, round, temporary music venue in Bristol city centre during the lead up to Christmas. It's a wonderful wooden tavern with space enough to fit about 500 or more people and a great place for a dance on a wobbly wooden floor. As usual Bristol is full of friendly colourful characters of all ages who want to party in good fashion. At a door price of £15 in a city with such variety of quality entertainment concentrated into a close area it could be considered expensive but Speigeltent has it's own charm and atmosphere which is in itself a draw in addition to Sheelanagig, who are world famous for their incredible performances every time.
The opening act is Land of the Giants, hailing from Plymouth they have been rising in status for the last few years and for good reason. They seem to blend reggae with a hint of good old fashioned indie rock in a way that is unique and fun to dance to. With a large cast of members including a trumpet player and a wild, bouncing trombone player, shaking his long dreads to beat they form a tight, well rehearsed team effectively working the crowd perfectly as a warm up to the main event for the first hour and at many events would be an adequate headline.
Between acts everyone seems to socialise with anyone near them. For me Bristol is like the biggest village in the world so I always run into old friends which makes any night even more enjoyable but in Bristol you always make new friendships as someone always finds a way of striking up a conversation. Tonight is no exception as I see members of other great local bands in the audience and meet a breast painter from South Africa. Inspired by the Banksy artwork outside she jokes that she's going to branch into graffiti with it. Only in Bristol I'm sure.
Then, to distract me from those artistic imaginings, Sheelanagig appear to a raucous cheer from the busy dance floor. Dressed up and looking dapper the gents begin to tickle our ear canals with 'All Over' and we dance and would continue to dance almost relentlessly for the next hour. During this time the band joke and perform like entertainers of old but in a rousing energetic fashion that few have ever achieved. We are talking folk music here which is often fast and energetic but Sheelanagig seem to produce a euphoria in the crowd similar to what I saw at raves in the happy hardcore days.
They clearly love what they do and give every ounce of energy to us and we all respond with gratitude for these absolute gems of the folk scene. Through the course of the night they borrow elements of ska, samba, classical, balkan, the list goes on, and each time play these styles with feeling, knowledge and passion. Moreover they have a wonderful ability to perform theatrics and are often ridiculously like good natured clowns and I don't mean that with any condescension. Whilst x-factor shites ply us with their half arsed attempts at filling the gaps in their existence through attempts to gain some attention we must remember that we still have a very strong culture of real musicianship that won't go away even if the mainstream media chooses to overlook it. For 12 songs the band prove it and if we could we'd make them play all night but after a brilliantly elongated encore where the band pretend to argue over who is going to finish the show they leave us wanting more.
The magic of Sheelanagig is that they appeal to all ages and can win over all audiences with their breathtaking performances. From an international world music festival, to a dark underground bar, a stadium show or a sunday bandstand they will win the crowd over.
I was trying to think of an analogy and I came up with this, which may help you understand..... Remember the commercials that used to challenge you to buy fruit pastels and eat them without chewing them? Of course it was almost impossible to not chew. Well, simliarly, I'm telling you to go and see this band no matter what kind of music you think you like and I challenge you not enjoy it and not to dance. You will fail and you will love it.
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.