John Spiers & Jon Boden
Poole Lighthouse Theatre
Thursday 5th March 2026
JOHN SPIERS – melodeons, concertinas, vocals
JON BODEN – vocal, fiddle, guitar, stomp board
SET LIST
Butter & Cheese & All
Three Tunes / Sportsman’s Hornpipe
Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy
The Fog
Jiggery Pokerwork / Haul Away
The Birth of Robin Hood
Bluey Brink
INTERVAL
The Outlandish Knight
Fallow Ground
Cuckoo’s Nest / Saltash / William Irwin’s Modal Hornpipe
Bold Sir Rylas
Hind Horn
Prickle Eye Bush
ENCORE
New York Girls
We thought we’d seen them as a pair quite recently, but in fact it was a dozen years ago, though we saw Jon Boden with Eliza Carthy just before Christmas. The Spiers & Boden tour started in early February, but you could still catch it at Caerleon, Falmouth, Topsham, Narberth and Aberystwyth.
The two piece is attractive for touring musicians. You can get everything in a small van. This two piece’s sound would easily fill any dance on their own. Jon Boden’s electrified stomp board replaces drums and John Spiers can extract a loud bass line from the melodeon. They are also a fine double act on intros, Boden the articulate archivist, Spiers the wry humorous one. They remind me much of a similar dynamic with Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick. Their 2014 show in Andover was billed as their Farewell Tour after fifteen years together, as a duo and in Bellowhead. They’re back. They’ve chalked up twenty five years together.
The new thing for us was the inclusion of several songs from their last album, Fallow Ground, and that was five years ago. A lot of work goes into amplifying the violin and melodeons so carefully. They thanked Andy Bell for sound on the night and he was the producer of Fallow Ground.
They had exactly the same back-dressing lights as Lisa O’Neill the week before, but instead of standing in the semi-gloom as she did, they got a good dynamic lighting from what I think are the existing pre-set Lighthouse lights.
The first Butter & Cheese & All, is from Fallow Ground. I realise that I never played that album enough. I must have bought it in a week with several competing new CDs and I played it a few times and forgot about it. It’s back on now.
We loved the introduction and explanations to Three Tunes, and why there are four of them. The violin amplification came to its fore on the fourth tune, Sportsman’s Hornpipe where Jon Boden played the violin like a guitar with individual notes and strummed chords. As folk fans know, ‘tunes’ means instrumentals.
Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy dates back to their early years and Through and Through in 2001, so the start of the 25 year collaboration.
Next was a request, the melodic The Fog, a John Spiers instrumental composition from Fallow Ground.
That was followed by Jiggery Pokerwork, a John Spiers composition, which segued into Haul Away vocal. That’s from Bellow.
Jon Boden switched to guitar and John Spiers to concertina for perhaps my favourite of their regular songs, The Birth of Robin Hood. It was on Vagabond in 2008- I keep referring albums so readers can find the songs. They did it later with Eliza Carthy on Works. It was ‘found’ in 1800 .
But if my father should find out
What’s passed between us two,
Before that he would eat or drink
He would hang you over that wall.
It’ll be an ear worm for at least a couple of days.
Bluey Brink is an Australian folk song fropm Fallow Ground. There is a fine YouTube version, filmed more recently in 2024. LINK HERE
The interval came here. The concessions stand was doing solid business, but we met some old friends and didn’t visit. It had gone at the end.
The Outlandish Night opened the second half. It is one of the stranger folk tales, and Martin Carthy wrote the melody they use. Another from Bellow.
Then came the title track of Fallow Ground.
Cuckoo’s Nest / Saltash / William Irwin’s Modal Hornpipe was another tunes medley.
Bold Sir Rylas was another mentioned as being fromn the Upper Thames. Karen’s mum was born in Cricklade, Wiltshire which is as Upper Thames as you can get. Jon Boden related it to Freya and her war pig, but said as with most folk, that’s only a guess. There’s a few versions by them.
Hind Horn is from Fallow Ground
The final song was their classic set ender / encore Prickle Eye Bush, which highlights both of them singing.
The encore was New York Girls, which used to be Bellowhead’s encore too. That’s one that loses a little without the full Bellowhead treatment (LINK TO BELLOWHEAD), but then it is Jon Boden’s voice and John Spier’s chorus and they do it with gusto as ever.
We always enjoy them. It was in the theatre, and one of three productions at Poole that night with The Mersey Beatles in the bigger concert hall. It annoys me that a tribute band gets a bigger venue than original artists but this is certainly not the first time that’s happened. Then there was a play that interested me in the Sherling Studio because it was by someone who share my surname, though not a relative. Spiers & Boden were the clear first choice.
OTHER REVIEWS:
Eliza Carthy & Jon Boden’s Wassail 2025 Winchester Theatre Royal
Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings 2017 Poole Lighthouse
Spiers & Boden 5.13 May 2013 Forest Arts, New Milton
Spiers & Boden, 6.13 June 2013, Poole Quay folk frestival
Spiers and Boden 2014 2014, Andover
Bellowhead 2.2013 Poole Lighthouse
Bellowhead 7.2013 Larmer Tree Festival
Bellowhead 2014 O2 at Southampton Guildhall
Bellowhead 7.2015 Larmer Tree Festival
Bellowhead 2016 Salisbury City Hall
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