Kate Rusby – Warrington (December 2009)

Annemarie Kropf is bowled over

As someone with no children, I can only imagine that the first few weeks after giving birth would be full of sleepless nights, lots of head scratching, and many attempts to bathe myself. For Kate Rusby, three months after giving birth to daughter Daisy meant a December UK tour to promote the re-release of her Christmas album, Silver Bells. Clearly, she is some kind of superwoman.

This past Saturday night, Pyramid & Parr Hall in Warrington was packed to the gills with an all-ages audience for Britain’s much beloved folk singer. Despite the presence of children, the atmosphere was still quite reverential and hushed. With no opening act, the evening was there for Rusby to take.

Dressed in black, apart from the white straps of her shoes and a red cuff on her wrist, Rusby commanded the audience’s attention simply with her extraordinarily beautiful voice. The stage was set with Christmas decorations including a tree and sparkly lights, but with a voice that could make the telephone book interesting, those were just in the background and hardly the focal point.

Most of the evening consisted of Christmas carols and the audience was invited to participate and join in, though Rusby did warn them a few times that her versions would be slightly different to the ones that they knew. Still, I could hear those around me joining in, albeit in mumbled versions. Songs included Here We Come A-Wassailing, The Holly And The Ivy, and Hark the herald. At times, a brass quintet joined her on stage as well.

In addition to her take on traditional carols, Rusby also sang songs from previous albums, such as The Goodman and My Young Man. A seasoned performer, Rusby’s trademark audience interaction was as entertaining as the songs themselves and only helped to endear her to the crowd. Before introducing The Cobbler’s Daughter, she told us, “Anything with shoes in it, we like.” At another point in the show, while her band was tuning their instruments, she mentioned that she’s been reading parenting magazines lately and that one of them asked readers what the biggest lie parents had told their child; she said that the best one was that the ice cream man rings his bell when he has no ice cream left. Much to the audience’s amusement, Rusby then said that her mother told her the same ruse was used on Rusby as a child.

Oh, and as for Rusby’s baby? “My mum is our baby roadie!” she exclaimed. Even a superwoman needs help sometimes.

Annemarie Kropf