Seasick Steve @ The Open House Festival

October 3, 2010 No Comments

LED lights were scattered across a black canopy, swept through the marquee, high above the crowd that had gathered to witness the magical spectacle of Seasick Steve. Closing the Open House Festival, the bearded wonder was joined by folk-fused 3 piece ‘Peggy Sue’, who launched into first track ‘Lazarus’. They had a similar sound to ‘The Unthanks’, and had a beautifully placed drum beat hit systematically through stunning, relevant lyrics, that even the most heartless person on the planet could relate to. The two female front-women both took it in turns to entrance the audience with their very unusual voices, which blended together perfectly to create wonderfully constructed harmonies. Their simple raw sound was just perfect amongst the lights, generating an enchanting atmosphere.

The girls altered between an acordian, guitar, tambourine & bass drum, while the male drummer kept the pace with a simple but effective beat. They were the kind of band you would expect to see at Open House Festival, different, and an amazing warm up act.

Peggy Sue said a timid ‘goodbye’ and left, leaving me to want their album. The stage began setting up for Seasick Steve, and it was safe to say I was more than a little bit excited. It didn’t look like the usual seasick set-up. There was no sign of the Missipippi Drum Machine, just an old school wooden chair with a pillow, and some strange long nosed mask hanging from the microphone. To some extent it seemed too glamourous for Seasick Steve, despite it being as basic as butter. And then he entered. With a bow. And threw himself into ‘Thunderbird’. Trust him to kick off a gig in Belfast with a song about wine. This unlikely star was faultless, bouncing around the stage with the 3-stringed transwonder, and I can safely say I have never seen an opening like it. In fact, I could’ve left after that, and be happy knowing it was one of the greatest set moments I have ever witnessed.

He finished, took a bow, and instead of taking a sip of water, or beer, lifted a bottle of Jack and began drinking it – raw – combined with his tales between songs, and humble bows after each performance just made the gig that little bit more special. He’s very open and vocal about how important Belfast is to him – and made a wonderful heartfelt speech before bowing to the crowd. He launched into another blues guitar frenzy, closing it with ‘Not bad for a couple of old farts.’

For someone so musically skilled, it was unbelievable how humble a man he was. After handpicking a girl from the audience, he set her down beside him, looked into her eyes, and serenaded her with ‘Walking Man’, and made one of the most memorable moments of her life. He then turned to the crowd and sang it deep into our own eyes, and it almost felt like he was singing it to Belfast – it was spectacular. It was only a matter of time before he got his diddlybo out – parts of wood, nails, string, Christmas decorations and a bit of a van – and started swinging it around & creating an impeccable sound. I think it’s safe to say that everyone should have a diddlybo in their lives, and after a performance like that, it would be hard not to.

After another big thankyou to Belfast, he top-taps himself into ‘Cut my wings’ (my feet are literally killing me from stamping them). A friend told me ‘He’s just an old mad man doing mad stuff on stage – but I can’t stop watching it’. The tears were streaming down my face from laughing, my cheeks were in pain from smiling, and my throat was hitting the dry mark from singing along the words to his uttlerly unbelieveable songs. ‘I Started Out With Nothing’, and ‘Chiggers’ followed, in between little stories and tales of his life, each leading to another magical song. His drumming buddy would occasionally step out from behind his kit to sweep the stage in time to Steve’s boots booming against the ground, and when everyone cried out ‘one more tune!’ he graciously returned, took another bow, and with a glimmer in his eye launched into ‘Doghouse Boogie’ – telling his life story along the way.

And with that, he flung his guitar down, got up, shook hands with the crowd and walked off – leaving behind that magic with everyone and the Open House Fest until next year.

By Tascha Kay

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