Blackmore’s Night at Yeovil - Review
All four of us went up to Yeovil (on the Lake Geneva Shoreline... oops, wrong song!!) and arrived just before 7.00pm. There was already a fair sized crowd and a good showing of medieval costumes as well. Tanya had bought a dress especially for the occasion. First mission was to buy the required merchandise - A shirt and very nice pewter pint mug for me and various tops for the girls. we couldn't get into the audiatorum as the band 'still had the house' (so we were informed), so a quick drink, much to my surprise they had St. Austell Tribute available. Then it was down to business...
Yeovil Octagon is a fairly small but very neat theatre and it was a very big surprise to find the seats I'd booked were really near the front - Excellent view! The support act were Gothien from the Czech Republic. Two fellas, two very pretty girls. They played for about 35 minutes with a selection of traditional folksy songs from around Europe and were excellent, going down well with the crowd. In the break tanya went out and purchased their CD which they all signed.
After about 25 minutes the background music went up, the lights went down and on came the huge (village) lantern above the stage. A couple of shodowy figures appeared and the keyboards fired up with a nice Blue spotlight. Then Ritchie and Candice walked on to much applause. I have to say that Ritchie did not look happy and I was a bit concerned that it was going to be one 'those' nights - Fortunately I was wrong! First up was Past Times with Good Company, a nice lively start. They were a little slow between the first few numbers, Ritchie clearly had a few amp problems. Four songs in some dozey woman yelled out 'get a move on' to which most of the audience told her to shut up, Ritchie did not look amused and Candice looked worried - But they answered back with World of Stone. Now I'm never sure about this track on the album but Live it was the highlight of the show, so much power and Candice sings it really well. From this point on they were magnificent, the whole mood of the evening changed as if they knew they'd hit the spot. Other highlights? Well far too many to mention them all here! Home Again was just a riot, dancing in the aisles (well at the front) and Candice gesturing to Ritchie and the crow, Bard David giving us the Drink Song and the generally the whole crowd becoming a part of the family - Great! During Mond-Tanz the Gothien girls came on to play, as did one of the guys for Cartouche (which was excellent). We got Renaissance Fayre, which hasn't been played much this tour and Fires at Midnight with an extended Ritchie acoustic solo and more proof that this guy knows a thing or two about playing guitar! All of Gothien came back on to join in on The Clock Ticks On... and everyone decided to finish at different times - much to the bands and audience amusement!! The last song was The Village Lanterne.... off they went, although Candice stayed to chat with the front row for a while. Then we got a nice long encore starting with a combination of Mid-Winters Night and Dandelion Wine. This was followed by the non album song First of May, Ritchie obviously catching Candice out with a song that she sings mostly solo minus all instruments ("It scares me when he makes me do that one"). Finally it was Ghost of a Rose, this song just gets better every time I see them.... and then it was over.
We went out, Tanya got a photo of herself with Gothien. We cheeked the management for large poster for Charlotte and then made the 85 mile trip back home. Somewhere around Ashburton we noticed the long trail of traffic going the other way.... then realised it was all the sheep leaving Plymouth from George Michael gig at Argyle. As Candice would quote - "You think I'm strange as I'm not like you - I think you're strange because you are all the same".
....and now it's the next day. It was a fantastic night out. I just hope they release the Paris Live DVD soon.
