This week saw something of a landmark gig for Birmingham’s ever-exuberant folkies, Bonfire Radicals. New album, Spaghetti Junction was revealed to a home crowd; long-time violinist Sarah Farmer played her last show with the band; her replacement, Emily Dawe was introduced to a welcoming crowd; and at least one tune was performed for the last time and finally exorcised from their live set.
Gigs in rooms above pubs aren’t necessarily a joyful experience when there’s a blistering heatwave going on. However, the Hare and Hounds had the presence of mind to install air conditioning some years ago and with it turned to Arctic Blizzard level, the atmosphere before Bonfire Radicals took to the stage couldn’t have been better amongst a crowd that was the most diverse that the venue must have seen in quite a while. Female, male, black, white, teenagers and pensioners and all points in between crowded one of South Birmingham’s most welcoming of rock’n’roll venues. However, it wasn’t rock’n’roll that audience had come to soak up.
Bonfire Radicals term themselves as a folk band – but a more unconventional folkie outfit would be difficult to track down. There may be recorders, clarinets, flutes, violins and accordions in the line-up, but the trad crowd would have a difficult time placing this ensemble’s repertoire within the usual boundaries of the genre. Sure, there is plenty of the soundtrack to Merrie England in their sound, but there are also influences that have been gathered from much further afield. From the Shetlands to the Balkans, Brazil to Central European Jewish Klezmer music and even Turkish psychedelic folk-rock, Bonfire Radicals serve up a very tasty stew that get toes tapping and hips swinging from the first notes of their set to the final fade out.
This week’s performance was no exception – with the band playing two sets to a packed house. Firstly, a show of fan favourites and then, after a beer-break, a run through of their soon-to-be-released new disc.
Striding through the crowd dressed in an array of summer festival gear, which took in harem pants, sparkly dresses and an assortment of hats, they were greeted like favourite cousins by an audience that was similarly attired and ready to dance. Songs like “The Lost Pick”, “Muffins” and “Sha, Sha, Di Shviger Kumt” had plenty up on their feet and cutting a rug. However, things calmed down a bit for the murder ballad, “Mary Ashford” – about a woman struck down on her way home from a dance during the Napoleonic Wars and another shockingly similar murder 150 years later – but were then livened up again with “the exotic spirit of Surbiton” during “The Man from Suburbia”.
After the break, Bonfire Radicals tore through their soon-to-be -released Spaghetti Junction album. Following a raucous singalong to “Green Fingered Hectus”, new violinist, Emily Dawe was brought on stage for her debut appearance. Bringing additional colour to “Northern Lights”, she initially played with Sarah Farmer before taking up sole fiddle duties for “Balkan Replacement Service” and “Birmingham Rain”. The latter tune also seeing the local Choir with No Name and the song’s composer, Barbara Norden take to the front of the stage for a collaboration that left plenty of moist eyes in the room.
Finishing with a splendid one-two of the hectic, Brazilian-flavoured “Mara” and the folk-powered ska of “Spaghetti Junction”, the band finally left the stage on a wave of love and appreciation from the audience but were soon dragged back for one last rendition of a tune that might have been called “Bumpkin Divorce Dance” before it was finally retired from Bonfire Radicals’ set. However, with a repertoire as good as this, it’s no surprise that some tunes are going to get chopped. It’s going to take a hard heart to decide what goes next though.
