Peter Viney's Blog

The Unthanks in Winter
The Concert Hall
Poole Lighthouse
Monday 16th December 2024
19.30

THE UNTHANKS

Rachel Unthanks – vocal, cello, percussion
Becky Unthanks – vocal, percussion
Adrian McNally- piano, vocal, drums, hand pumped harmonium
Niopha Keegan – viola, violin, vocal
Chris Price – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, double bass, vocal

WITH
Faye McCalman – saxophone, clarinet, vocal
Dan Rodgers – double bass, bass guitar, keyboard
Will Hampton – vibes, drums, keyboard, hand pumped harmonium, vocal

SETLIST
The setlist is hard. There are no very recent lists on set list.com and much of the material was heard for the first time. There were also linking piano intros which might count as a track or not. For instance in one, Adrian McNally referenced The 12 Days of Christmas, but I’m not sure when. Corrections are very welcome.
In Winter’s Night
O Tannenbaum
Dark December
Gower Wassail
The Cherry Tree Carol
Nurse Emmanuel
O Come All Ye Faithful
Carol of The Birds
Carol of The Beasts

Interval
The Snow it Melts The Soonest
Bleary Winter
the Holly & The Ivy
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
The Coventry Carol
The Holly & The Ivy
River River
Greatham
Tar Barrel in Dale

encore

Dear Companions

FROM THEIR WEBSITE:
 The Unthanks collect and reimagine. You will hear what a Tyneside band playing a German Christmas song in the style of The Beach Boys sounds like (O Tannenbaum); a Spanish carol performed by English folkies through the filter of Tom Waits (Carol Of The Birds); a French carol given desert blues menace, a newly written tribute to the NHS to the tune of O Holy Night (Nurse Emmanuel); an opening piece inspired by A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten (In Winter’s Night); traditional wassails and old stories coloured with folk noir and traces of Vincent Guaraldi’s Merry Christmas Charlie Brown.

Only The Unthanks can do it. That is, tour a completely new repertoire with a new angle. As last time at Poole, they had impeccable sound. This is a hall that is so live, as the home of The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, that you can hear a triangle tinged. Most bands are too loud. The Unthanks were perfect.

They started fifteen minutes late at 7.45. A friend knows the staff and said they were shocked to find they were on at 7.30, insisted on 8, and compromised on 7.45. Signs were put up. Apparently there were heated words and a dispute over the piano. The word was going round the lobby too. Having met them, I can assure the reader that they are some of the most pleasant, friendly and unassuming musicians you can find. Things get heated. I spent thirty years speaking to audiences and will admit to really losing my temper right before performing (at least) three times. I can even tell you where: Turin, Guadalajara and Lyons. Turin was the most recent. I was using a CD of dialogues and in a 500 seat hall had specified that I needed a CD player with amplifier into the house PA system. I was given a £50 plastic kids CD player. If I’m doing my job and in front of a large audience, I don’t expect others to fuck up their supporting job. So I will suspect there are reasons, and I know they are perfectionists on sound. They showed not a sign of it in the show(and the piano sounded superb).

They have tweaked the line up. Chris Price plays electric and acoustic guitars, and only resumes his double bass work for one song. Dan Rogers takes over on double bass and bass guitar. They have two major guests, Faye McCalman on clarinet, vocals and the surprised for a folk tour, saxophone (which blends in perfectly). Then they have multi-instrumentalist Will Hampton who plays vibraphone, drums, hand-pumped harmonium and the carefully obscured electronic keyboard. Is it a pumped harmonium? They’ve used it before for a drone sound. It might be known as a Dulcetina. One surprise was Adrian McNally playing drums on some numbers. There are some recorded sounds, I think emanating from the keyboard.

Adrian McNally came on alone to play In Winter’s Night on piano. The rest joined him for O Tannenbaum, sung in its English version. The harmonies were shimmering, but it didn’t remind me of The Beach Boys. It’s rare for me to hear that tune without the Red Flag coming to mind, though it was too magical for me to remember any of the rude versions. As such a familiar tune in a largely unfamiliar set, it was the ideal starter.

Dark December and Gower Wassail had Adrian moving to drums to allow Will Hampton to play vibes. In the LP sleeve notes, he says he placed himself on drums to keep his hands away from the piano keys, but that wasn’t his idea of the song. Tremendous bass and vibes combination. Dark December is a powerful Graeme Miles song from 1964, and they apologise for truncating it, but Becky’s insistent Oh, Should we curse the winter … becomes a mantra. It ends with a triumphant saxophone solo. Gower Wassail segues straight in. The combination of Fay McCalman and Niopha Keegan’s violin hold the song, with a lilting guitar solo.

The Cherry Tree Carol is a favourite. In December 2005 we did a pre-Christmas tour of Hungary and one of our fellow speakers was doing Christmas songs with this one as a speciality. Here it had a long piano introduction.

Nurse Emmanuel is a tribute to nurses in Covid, set to the tune of O Holy Night and co-written by Adrian McNally and Vanessa Lambert. Adrian took the lead vocal.

O Come All Ye Faithful just loops one line, and centres on piano, vibes and sax. We all know it.

Carol of The Birds is a Catalan melody, and Joan Baez once recorded a version. Becky leads and When rose the Eastern star, The birds came from afar travelled home with me as an earworm that was still playing next morning.

Carol of The Beasts ends the first set, and featured more memorable sax playing. I didn’t know it, but the LP notes tell me it was from the 17th century, and known as The Burgundian Carol. Pete Seeger gave it its English title. It’s a good ender with all the band playing full out, and not for the first time, The Unthanks sounded more prog-folk than folk.

INTERVAL
The stage set up in the interval. It was a long interval, but then there were long lines at the concession stand. A novelty was their back catalogue CDs in outsize sleeves. I was curious about an intriguing new format, but I already have everything.

The rectangular light blocks change colour through the set and the lighting plot is effective.

Part two starts with Adrian on piano. Chris Price moved to acoustic bass for the first time in the evening, with the bass player moving to that hidden keyboard stage right. It was vibes, clarinet and violin with Rachel singing for The Snow it Melts The Soonest. She said she’s known it since she was a teenager, and said it was first noted in Newcastle in 1821.

Bleary Winter by Chris Wood followed. Chris Price was back on guitar, Adrian back on drums and so we had prominent vibes again.

I’m assuming the long instrumental was The Holly & The Ivy, with prominent saxophone again, and Becky and Rachel adding wordless vocal additions. It’s not the most well-known tune version either.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen had Adrian on the pump harmonium with Will featured on vibes, basically a vibraphone solo with drone.

River River is a Becky Unthanks co-write with Becky, Rachel and Niopha singing … always a great combination.

Greatham was in a different version on their first album Cruel Sister. It’s much changed. I think this is the one where rachel donned the clogs and tapped along, always a highlight.

Tar Barrel in Dale is where we first met The Unthanks in 2011. We heard it, loved it, booked to see them in Exeter, and have not stopped. This is a stripped down all vocal version, with Rachel, Becky and Niophe up front, and everyone else joining in.

ENCORE

Dear Companions is another Becky Unthanks co-write with an instantly memorable melody. A great ender to another marvellous show.

Highly recommended: The Unthanks in Winter as a double LP / double CD set.

THE UNTHANKS PREVIOUSLY:
The Unthanks 03.2011
The Unthanks 12.2011
The Unthanks 04.2012
The Unthanks 10.2012
The Unthanks 2.2015
The Unthanks 5.2017
The Unthanks 2019
The Unthanks 2022