Lau – The Forge, Basingstoke, 11/10/09

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So bearing in mind I work in a theatre, you think I would have been a bit more on top of the situation. Getting into a sold-out theatre show is no mean feat – if there’s no seats, there’s no seats. After seriously considering it, I decided against showing up with my own seat though. Lucky, someone was just about on top of the situation – Lau band member and accordion wizard Martin Green in fact, who personally escorted us from the box office. And although I’m sure they weren’t, it did appear the band were actually waiting for us to arrive before they started- (again, bad planning on my part – I was aiming for an 8pm start, but it being Sunday, it was 7.45pm). And you kind of have to on time for these things – we’re not joking when we say ‘latecomers may not be admitted’.

But luckily, we found ourselves tucked up in a couple of house seats in the back row of The Forge. Bearing in mind that this band won the ‘Best Group’ award at the BBC Folk awards earlier this year, it was a bit of surprise to be able to catch them playing this cosy eighty seat venue hidden inside Basingstoke’s much bigger Anvil Theatre. Needless to say the show was sold out almost as soon as the tour dates were announced, but in such a teeny venue, even being in the back row still meant we were approximately 5 metres away from the band.

After a quick check to make sure there were no stray Alistair McGowan fans inside (who should have been suffering in the main auditorium rather than enjoying themselves with us) the boys launched into a lively set of jigs to get proceedings underway. The pace was hectic, and at times Aidan O’Rourke became a blur of flying fingers and bow as he and Kris Drever vied with each other to raise the tempo to a level that the other couldn’t match. But of course that didn’t happen – Lau have been touring this set for the best part of a year now, so the performance has been well polished. Unlike a more conventional gig which proceeds track by track, Lau tend to run two or three similar tunes together, then pause for a break while the audience catch their breath, and one of the band explains the inspiration which lead to the creation of the previous/next set.

This may sound weird to those of us more used to songs with words, but even instrumental folk music is still inspired by everyday events – a good example being ‘Horizontigo’ – penned by the group’s Scottish contingent, after trip to the flat fenlands close to Martin Green’s home city of Cambridge. Once this was explained the track makes a lot more sense. Honest. But of course Lau’s music isn’t purely instrumental. After a few more reels, the tempo slowed for ‘Winter Moon’ and we were treated to our first taste of Kris Drever’s excellent vocal capabilities, and carefully crafted lyrics. Quite a contrast from the whirling jigs and reels, but still engaging and showing another side of the band’s talents.

And so the evening proceeded – mainly with tracks from the Arc Light album, but in the second half some new unrecorded work was given an airing. Nice to know that there’s more where the current material came from. There was also an excellent cover of Ewan McColl’s ‘I’m a Freeborn Man’, which really highlighted Kris’s distinctive voice, and provided a sensitive interpretation of this folk standard. The choice of this as the only cover in the set tells us a little about the band’s view on life, which was further highlighted by their encouraging the audience to support the “Folk against Racism” cause by visiting the merchandise stall at the end of the gig.

Next time I’m definitely opting for seeing Lau in a non-seated, more traditional gig venue, not least to try and prevent the I-should-know-better theatre related mis-haps, but also because this is not music for sitting down audiences. In fact despite it being their usual set-up, the band themselves also seemed uncomfortable playing whilst seated – Aiden O’Rourke came close to crashing to the floor several times as his enthusiasm got the better of him, and Kris Drever’s left leg seemed possessed by alien forces at times as he stamped along to the frantic beat which they maintained.

Whilst the audience of predominantly old-school folkies may appreciate the slightly-more-comfortable-than average seats in the Forge, Lau are a band that have got real potential to cross over to a new, younger, folk audience, and show the young whipper-snappers how it’s done. With such amazing musicianship and finely honed song writing, it won’t be long before the Radio 2 audience will have to start venturing further than the local theatre to see them.