Farriers album launch - Black Box, Belfast
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Farriers, Three Blind Wolves, Gareth Dunlop
Black Box, Belfast
Sunday 27th May
It feels like one of the hottest nights ever in Belfast and for some reason everyone is dying to get in to a small black room in The Cathedral Quarter. It's a culmination of three years work for Northern Irish folk band Farriers and judging by the turnout at The Black Box tonight, it seems many people have been looking forward to this, the launch of their album 'Years Ago In Our Backyard'.
But before we get our bluegrass on we start with East Belfast singer songwriter , kicking off the night in a plucky and positive fashion. He showcases his fantastic skills in 'Fools Desire' and exhibits great enthusiasm with a voice that makes your hair stand on end. He finishes his short set with 'Trick Of The Moonlight' from his EP 'Devil Mocks Me', a beautiful and delicate number that could be even better if the audience decided to zip it for five minutes.
Next up are from Glasgow but only one bespectacled wolf steps on stage as sadly the rest of the band couldn't make it. Never have I seen one man do so much with so little on stage though, as Ross explodes with 'Emily Rose' from their record 'Sound Of The Storm'. Within mere minutes he's got the crowd right where he wants them and his held notes actually have girls screaming in the audience. We then get a treat in the form of 'Echo On The Night Train', a fast paced and enlivened tune combined with some epic growling vocals. We're coming to the end of his performance and he dishes out 'Captain Of A Ship', an initially thoughtful song that quickly evolves in to something wistful and passionate climaxing with some unreal crowd interaction.
Finally we've got on stage and there's ten of them! They set the place on fire with 'Another One Riding', ably accompanied by their 鈥渃hoir鈥 comprised of Paddy and Louis of Kowalski and Katie Richardson to name a few. We then lunge head first in to 'The Fires Burn' and practically the whole hall is dancing along as beautiful harmonies echo around the room. Vocalist Stephen McCartney has a light hearted chat with the audience and asks, 鈥...has anyone heard of bluegrass? Well here's our version of it...鈥.
The place is absolutely boiling as they deliver 'So Long As I Can Stay' and the venue literally feels alive. It's all finished in the blink of an eye and they bring the night to a close with 'Long Are The Hollows' and as the band quieten down, so do the audience. Vocalist Stephen McCartney said after the gig, 鈥淚t's a massive relief to get the album out and we're hoping to tour Canada and Europe soon.鈥 As we leave the venue we're all covered in sweat but it's worth it to have seen Northern Ireland's finest folk act hands down.
James J Magill
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