| Reviews 2023 | |||
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Woodman Folk Club - Reviews |
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| Bruce Watson |
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| Woody* | 22 Sepember 2023 |
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Hi everyone, Woody here again with a review of another fabulous night at
the Woodman Folk Club; and as the chimes of Left Bank Two by the
Noveltones faded into the distance the evening was opened by our MC, Mr
Bryn Phillips. This week Bryn was wearing two hats as he was doing the
support spot as well as being MC. Bryn opened the evening in fine style with “Hard Seat, Thin Cushion Blues”. I’m sure we’ve all been there – but not tonight! Bryn’s second song was a bit more serious, about PTSD, “77 years of Hell”. A poignant and moving story. We all know that Bryn loves the blues and his next song gave him a reason to name-check some great blues players. Of course, once you’ve heard Robert Johnson….. Next up a story of whisky-making, “The Angels Share”. Bryn finished his spot with a Randy Newman song “Rollin'” with everybody singing along. Bryn then introduced the main act of the evening, Bruce Watson, as being new to the Woodman. Bruce is Australian (with a name like that, he would be, wouldn’t he?) and is currently on tour in the UK. He was given a typically warm Woodman welcome. Bruce started off, completely unplugged (and playing a guitar borrowed from Keith Donnelly), with “An Old Bush Dance” which got everyone singing with Bruce dancing round the audience. All plugged in and behind the mic for the next song “The Importance of Being Bruce”, designed to head off all the clichés about an Australian named Bruce. Already I could see we were in for a great night! From humour to tears of emotion with the next song “The Golden Bracelet”. A true tale of a young Jewish Lady in Warsaw forced to work for the Nazis, survived and settled in Australia to become the mother of Bruce’s best friend. A really important story to tell and beautifully done in a song. Next came a song about clearing the Amazon rain forests so ranchers can “grow” hamburgers. To quote the song “In the time it takes to sing this song there’ll be four acres cleared from the Amazon”. The Woodman audience joined in enthusiastically as usual. A wonderful piece of observation came next. Snippets of conversations heard on the train – enjoyed by all and, yes, we’ve all been there! - ”I’m on the Train!” Bruce takes inspiration for his songwriting from all sorts of things. In the case of his next song, the inspiration came form a most important scientific discovery. “John Snow and the Map that Changed the World” tells the story of how Doctor John Snow, by drawing a map of all the cases in London, discovered how cholera is spread by contaminated water. He was literally the father of epidemiology – now I didn’t know that till I heard it in a song! Bruce closed his first set with a happy look at the Wando Vale Annual Sheep Dog Trials. What a super first half we had. We sang along. We laughed and we cried a bit. Just a short break and we can get some more. After the customary raffle (in which I won NOTHING!) Bryn introduced Bruce for his second set which he opened with a love song “These Old Bones”. Lots of knowing nods from the Woodman audience here. Next came a song of historical significance “The Wreck of the Schomberg”. The Schomberg was one of the last clippers and her captain “Bully” Forbes set out to break the record for Britain to Australia. Instead, he wrecked the ship off the Victoria coast. Bruce told us that his wife’s great great grandfather was third mate on the ship, so the song has a family connection too. Back to funny songs next with a song about the Blobfish complete with a picture. As expected the Woodman audience joined in the fun. The next song “The Land is a Map” was very Australian in nature, contrasting the beauty of the Aboriginal names for places with the bland names chosen by settlers and colonisers. It is clear that Bruce has an affinity with the original peoples of his country. More history and family connection came next, Bruce showed us a photograph of a woman, a man and an Edison phonograph (the title of the song). The man is recording the last person to speak the Tasmanian language. In the final verse of the song Bruce reveals that he is descended from the man in the photograph and we heard a little of the original wax cylinder recording. Every person in the room who has endured a car journey with children identified with the next song entitled “ARE WE THERE YET?!” and, of course we all joined in with that bit. Two more story songs came next “Captain Moonlight – A Love Story” and “Trim, the Circumnavigating Cat” then, finally to finish a song entitled simply “Balance” - we all joined in the chorus: For every act of terror, there’s a thousand acts of kindness For every act of hate there’s a thousand more of love For every act of vengeance there’s a thousand of forgiveness This World is full of beauty, this World is full of Love With that Bruce concluded the show – but we couldn’t let it rest there and he was persuaded to sing one more. He left us with The Rules of English and he left us all smiling. You always get a great night at the Woodman but, by any standards, this was special. We hope Bruce returns to the Woodman in the future. * Notes taken by Rob Hill, who also typed up the review, but the views expressed are those of Woody, the club mascot. |
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