“We’ve been talking about this gig for about ten years,” the gathered music lovers were told before SARAH McQUAID took to the stage to headline this month’s concert. “The stars have never quite aligned before, but you’re going to be glad they have now.”

Perhaps never a truer prediction was made from the stage. Beginning her set with the unaccompanied Sweetness and Pain, McQuaid has the audience in the palm of her hand from the first second as Christ Church Downend descended into pin-drop silence. They clearly knew they are in the hands of someone who knows precisely how to engage her audience.

McQuaid’s two children are in their twenties now, but used to love being read bedtime stories by their mother when they were young… and little wonder, as in her hands, stories become living, breathing things. The Tide, inspired by the Swallows and Amazons books, is a fine example of just that. McQuaid’s voice is often described as lush and chocolatey. It’s hard to know exactly what that means, but when you hear it, the description suddenly makes sense. Her voice is a magical thing that just leaves you spellbound.

McQuaid was born in Spain but grew up in the USA before she relocated to Ireland and then Cornwall; but with her Chicago upbringing, it was surely inevitable that she’d eventually write a blues song, and in I’m Slowing Down As I Get Older, And That’s Good), she’s written a perfect one. It’s a proper ear-worm, too, and this reviewer has been singing it almost non-stop for the last 24 hours. That’s a special songwriting talent that so few possess.

Most of the songs in McQuaid’s set are one’s that she’s written herself, but the award for "Most Surprising Cover of the Year" surely must go to her take on Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees. Surprising, yes, but a truly "stops you in your tracks" version of a very good song, too. McQuaid is innovative, thoughtful and clearly takes great care in the shape of her set. And there’s room for a bit of trad too, with West Virginia Boys showing that she’s as adept with the old songs as she is with those written by herself (or Thom Yorke!).

Your reviewer hails from Derby, so In Derby Cathedral was a particular delight as McQuaid closed her set with a haunting set of layered vocals, before returning for a well deserved encore, with the appropriately-titled Last Song, a gentle, lulling delight to end her set perfectly and reiterate her genuine class.

Opening the evening was a long-time friend of both DF&R and McQuaid. MIKE WEAVER is a gifted songwriter, his songs are deep, thoughtful and personal, and are delivered with a gentle simplicity. Chasing Squirrels, written in honour of his beloved dog, is a particular highlight, while Weaver closed the set with his “hit”, Pembrokeshire Fair, which gets better on every hearing.

A gig ten years in the making, but the audience were in no doubt that it was entirely worth the wait. The stars aligned, tonight, in so many ways.

Words: Bea Furlong
Photos: Alan Cole/Fiona McKeon

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