You write the reviews: Bellowhead, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape
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Your support makes all the difference.Snape Maltings, near Aldeburgh, is the home of seriously serious music, where nice tunes, although not actually forbidden, are definitely frowned upon. So it's a bit of a mystery how Bellowhead, who have nice tunes in abundance, ended up playing there. Because this was part of the Proms season, many of the audience were getting their first taste of this eccentric 11-piece folk ensemble. The amplification frightened off one or two punters, but the rest were game to stay and give it a go. In the democratic days of Top of the Pops, you feel certain that Bellowhead would have had an "All Around My Hat"-type crossover hit by now and be headlining festivals all over the country.
The band play a wide variety of traditional instruments and have an impressive brass section. Sometimes when they are playing so many different instruments, and so apparently anarchically, it seems that chaos might prevail at any minute. But they never lose the plot, and occasionally they all leap in the air simultaneously to emphasise that they are very much together. This is a classy live act.
The excellent acoustics at Snape meant that you could pick out every instrument and hear how each member adds to the mix. Plus, they were playing on a stage big enough to accommodate their energetic dancing. For once, Rachel McShane, the cellist, did not get pushed off the back of the crowded stage.
Jon Bowden, the main singer, has a rather worrying Basil-Fawlty-in-manic-mode manner, but his is a real folk voice that is perfect for their songs, all of which are deeply rooted in tradition. Audiences should beware, though. Songs such as "Jordan" and "Across the Line" are dangerously catchy – their choruses insinuate themselves into your head to the extent that laser surgery would be required to remove them.
But it is in their dance numbers that Bellowhead are at their most brilliant, with 11 musicians playing at least as many instruments and leaping about with such exuberance and joy that the audience here were forced to rattle their jewellery in what passes for gay abandon in Suffolk. Some even rushed to the front to dance, but discreetly, of course, at the side of the stage, so as not to block anyone's view. Benjamin Britten, I'm sure, was tapping his foot, even as he turned in his grave.
With the exception of the Who, Bellowhead are surely the best live act in the country and, in my opinion, dance numbers such as "Frog's Legs and Dragon's Teeth" should be prescribed by the NHS as a holistic alternative to Prozac.
Pete Barrett, retired IT specialist, Colchester
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