First we have Van Morrison laughing on his new album, and now we have Paul Brady giggling and joking on stage. I thought these were supposed to be grumpy old men? Whatever, this was certainly a happier and more light-hearted Paul than we’ve seen in years. He took us on a ramble through his back pages, mostly alone but accompanying himself on guitar (‘The Havana Way’), grand piano (‘Dancer In The Fire’) or electric keyboard (‘Locked Up In Heaven’) as the fancy took him. He tossed in some new songs too, with ‘Sail On’ coming on partly like a relative of ‘Life Is What You Make It’ and his collaboration with broadcaster John Kelly threatening at times to out-Elton John.
He ended side one with a stirring version of ‘Arthur McBride’ before resuming for a nod to Johnny Cash with ‘Forty Shades Of Green’, complete with a yodel or two. Along the way we got fine run-throughs of a subtly delicate ‘Nobody Knows’, an evocative ‘The Island’, a blistering ‘Nothing But The Same Old Story’, ‘Crazy Dreams’ and ‘This Is The Long Goodbye’ among others.
Altan fiddler Ciaran Tourish popped up for a bunch of reels and the two were joined by trumpeter Linley Hamilton for the lengthy finale ‘The Homes Of Donegal’ through which Brady rapped a list of place-names from that county. If Hamilton and Tourish had been let off their leash, we might have had a serious show-stopper on our hands. But all in all, this was a decent night’s work, with Brady’s voice sounding as mightily impressive as ever.