Waterson:Carthy at the Sage, Gateshead

Well, that was much better than Oddsocks! However, much of the first half was taken over by an overextended mummers play, which proved that from the combined ranks of Waterson:Carthy and The Devil's Interval, only Tim van Eyken can really act. Reason for the overextension was probably the evident ill-health of Norma Waterson, who had to be helped off-stage by husband Martin Carthy and daughter Eliza Carthy at the end. Hall 1 at the Sage was full, but was really too large a venue for a show which has been in the more intimate atmosphere of folk clubs and smaller arts centres earlier in the tour. Eliza is centre stage and carries the show with amazing fiddle-playing. Dancers Simon Ritchie and Lucy Adams were welcome and informative additions, but it was a pity to hear Norma go on about how pagan religion had lived alongside Christianity until the Industrial Revolution, and recalling the time when England was a 'purely agricultural' country - a vague term, but to me denoting a period more remote than our performers seemed to think.