Dating back to the 1930’s, Tenbury Wells’ Regal Theatre underwent a major restoration and repair back in 2011 that saw many original features reinstated. It now serves as the towns principal entertainment outlet, offering a wide and varied programme for the local community. As a music venue it oozes warmth and intimacy, offering crystal clear acoustics and with no orchestra or pit between stage and audience this adds to the feeling of closeness. Pretty much the perfect spot then, to witness the wonderful Cara Dillon and Sam Lakeman, who delighted the crowd with a show that included traditional Irish folk numbers, stirring original songs, and plenty of back-and-forth banter between husband and wife. This was the pairs first ever performance in Tenbury Wells, and hopefully on tonight’s showing it won’t be their last.
‘As I Roved Out’, an alternative version of which has recently been covered by Robert Plant’s Saving Grace, made for an emotive opening number. With the duo seemingly deciding on the set list as they went along, Sam was sent to sit at his keyboard for the haunting ‘Garden Valley’, and it was already evident that Cara’s voice would resonate in this small theatre. The ethereal title track of 2024 album Coming Home found the vocalist weaving between spoken poetry and song against the backdrop of Sam’s gentle keyboard arrangement. Inspired by a homesick conversation with her late father when she was on tour in New Zealand some years ago, it made for a captivating high point of the first set which closed with the optimistic and joyous ‘Bright Morning Stars’.
The second half of the evening continued in a similar vein, the pared back arrangements of ‘Blackwaterside’ and ‘Black is the Color’ allowing her amazing voice to shine. They picked up the pace with ‘P Stands for Paddy’, a tune that has its roots in the early 1800’s, and although Sam may have doubted her abilities on the tin whistle, Cara did a fine job on ‘The Hill of Thieves’, a beautiful song inspired by the history and majesty of her homeland. ‘She Moves Through the Fair’ is apparently a song Cara is always asked to perform at family weddings, something you might question given the fate that befalls the narrators love. And although the have doubtless performed it many times, tonight’s rendition proved it has lost none of its sparkle. The customary encore of ‘The Parting Glass’, with its refrain of “good night and joy be with you all”, sent everyone home content with the hope that we would one day meet again.
Cara and Sam will be appearing (with full band) at Shrewsbury Folk Festival at the end of August. Later in the year, Cara’s traditional Christmas show, Upon a Winter’s Night, stops off at Worcester’s Huntingdon Hall on December 13th which, if tonight is anything to go by, promises to be a very special evening.
Set 1:
As I Roved Out
Garden Valley
She’s Like the Swallow
The Gem of the Roe
The Tern and the Swallow
Coming Home
Bright Morning Stars
Set 2:
Blackwaterside
Black Is the Color (of My True Love’s Hair)
P Stands for Paddy (Lament for Johnny)
The Water Is Wide
She Moved Through the Fair
The Hill of Thieves
Encore:
The Parting Glass
