A packed house at Barnsley Civic enjoyed a great start to Barnsley Acoustic Roots Festival on Friday 1 April, with an exciting set from Show of Hands, ably supported by Phil Henry and Hannah Martin. Show of Hands operated for many years as a duo, award-winning songwriter Steve Knightley and multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer, and for some time now they have been joined by Miranda Sykes on double bass and vocals. They have been very busy lately! Before Christmas they toured churches and other historic venues in their Spires and Beams tour, immediately followed by another national tour. Since Christmas all three have been touring seperately, Knightley promoting a live solo album. Joining Knightley on that album were young musicians, Phil Henry and Hannah Martin.
Phil Henry and Hannah Martin
Steve Knightley introduced the support act, young Devon duo Phil Henry and Hannah Martin. Their short set began with a solo dobro piece, performed by Phil Henry. This O'Carolan celtic harp tune was given an unusual and effective bluegrass treatment. Phil Henry's dobro playing was excellent, while his energetic harmonica playing (sometimes combined with human beatbox!) entertained the crowd royally. On one of Hannah Martin's songs, Phil Henry used two harmonicas to produce an unusual squeezebox effect. Hannah Martin plays fiddle to atmospheric effect and also accompanied herself on banjo. Highlights of the set included a lively harmonica tribute to Sonny Terry and some very atmospheric bluegrass dobro playing. The audience clearly enjoyed the duo and many bought their CDs in the interval.
Show Of Hands in Concert
Throughout Show of Hands' set of classic songs, it was striking how topical much of the material was, even songs that were written more than a decade ago. The set began with the anti-privatisation and anti-cuts anthem "Cut-throats, Crooks and Conmen", as relevant as at the time it was written. This was followed with the equally anthemic "Santiago". Knightley made a connection between the song (written about the history of Chile and exiles from Pinochet) to the Chilean miner's rescue of 2010, although connections to other issues of recent international political controversy also came to mind.