Aoife O'Donovan et Chris Thile

As good as it gets! Great venue at The Keep pub in Guildford. Intimate, or 'cosy' as Aoife commented. Yet not too crowded. Alas the sound system got held up, in traffic on the M25, I believe, so we were treated to a pure acoustic night. It meant a hushed audience, but all the more better for that. Aoife was on top form and seemed to genuinely relish the occasion.
Set list included some old favourites, a few off the soon to be released In the Magic Tour and finishing with THe Lakes Of Ponchatrain.
Ably supported by the unusual voice of the Hope Convention
All in all an excellent night

The mandolin is a beautiful instrument that is, in my opinion, severely underplayed in the music industry, but Christ Thile’s incredibly use of the instrument to support his solo performances absolutely blew me away at the recent concert. He made his was to centre stage and stood in front of the microphone before tuning the mandolin before introducing himself and then launching into his set.

He opened with an instrumental piece that was written in an experimental folk style. I hadn’t heard it on any of his recordings, and it didn’t look like anyone in the audience had either, but the crowd erupted into applause when he finished. With so many records under his belt, I wasn’t sure how he was going to select a set list, but he did so magnificently. When he played the title track from his Grammy Award winning album, True Live Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe, he got everyone singing along, and invited us to stand up to dance along.

As well as his instrumental skills, his distinctive voice contrasts beautifully with his mandolin, and the sound that they create together is exciting and original.