It’s all the fun of the festival at brewhouse
The Allanwater Brewhouse’s ‘Festival in a Day: Top of the Hops’ proved the ideal way to draw the summer season to a close, with a triplebill of local talent that left patrons delighted.
The success of the event also confirmed Bridge of Allan’s hidden gem as one of Central Scotland’s top live music venues.
The top of the bill slot was taken by 22-year-old Matt Little whose soulful voice has made him a firm favourite with Brewhouse aficionados.
For this reviewer there were two highlights to the Edinburgh University graduate’s set with an emotionally charged version of The Maroon 5 classic ‘She Will Be Loved’, a rendition that showcased Little’s sonorous tones as his interpretation of this ballad of rejection, betrayal and unrequited lust was delivered with a crackling angst.
Yet it was Little’s performance of the Johnny Cash epic ‘Hurt’ that was undoubtedly the showstealer of his set and as Matt explained an anthem that for him has it all: “I remember the first time I heard this song and I thought that Johnny Cash just put everything into it.
“It came right at the end of his life and tells of his regret and I just thought that the lyric was so strong I couldn’t wait to get my teeth into it,” said Matt.
While ‘Hurt’ undoubtedly illustrated the singer’s soulful strains, sadly the positioning of this Cash masterpiece, coming just after the mid - set break, diluted the impact this tear-stained epic would have had if it had been delivered as the climax of a fine performance but parked in the encore slot.
Earlier in the evening another local favourite Tom Thompson delivered a set of amazing variety that enraptured a packed Brewhouse for just over two hours with the highlight of an elastic time defying performance, undoubtedly Tom’s raucous interpretation of The Mamas & Papas version of ‘Summertime’, which left the songsmith’s audience undoubtedly all shook up.
Earlier the afternoon slot had been filled by Perthshire’s The Riverman Collective who were given the difficult task of warming up the initial wave of ‘festival goers’.
They did not disappoint and the stomping ‘soundwall’ of duelling guitars and violins proved the perfect kick-start to the festival and has surely guaranteed the Collective a quick return ticket.
All of which has left Brewhouse owner Douglas Ross purring: “It was just a great way to end the summer and to have just under 950 patrons, with people coming from Germany, France, Italy, Canada, America and Japan, meant we had a real international feel too Top of the Hops throughout the day and proved that with a little bit of help from the weather gods we got it bang on.” said Douglas.
He added: “So the magic formula of good food, great beer, fine music and a really friendly atmosphere is still what counts.
“But I must pay a big vote of thanks to all three of our musical acts, John Cullen Butchers for their stupendous sausages and also to my staff for all their hard work. Now we can look forward to our next major event, the St Andrew’s Day Festival on Saturday, December 1”.