ROY HARPER
VENUE THE SAGE, GATESHEAD
DATE 20/03/19
Before this tour began it was announced that roy Harper would be retiring from live work this year. Fair enough; at the age of 77 that seems perfectly understandable. Being on the road, while gratifying, has its own strains and rigours, which fans often fail to appreciate. So tonight in this packed hall it’s also perfectly understandable that there’s a celebratory mood and, well, an awful lot of love in the room. as Harper takes his place in the centre of an arc of musicians that includes a string quartet, guitar and drums, amid sustained applause, Harper has a big grin on his face, like he knows something we don’t.
What we get tonight isn’t a roundup of greatest hits, but instead a setlist that lives and breathes with startling contemporary takes on some venerable numbers from his voluminous back catalogue, such as the 50-year-old epic rant of McGoohan’s Blues, but no fewer than three brand new numbers. Just as 2013’s Man & Myth album showcased a voice and writing that was the equal of anything from his 70s heyday, the new material has the poetic gravitas that makes Harper so compelling. the Man in the Glass cage refers explicitly to his treatment by the tabloid press after being accused of sexual abuse and brought to trial in 2015. it burns with the indignation of one who was acquitted but whose life was put on hold for more than three years, and guitarist Bill Shanley’s incendiary fretwork, an absolute highpoint throughout the evening, is especially bright and fierce.
Fiona Brice, on violin and keyboards, leads a quartet that includes cello, trumpet/flugelhorn and bass. Following the advice of the late, great david Bedford, who helped widen and expand Harper’s visionary explorations on albums such as Stormcock and HQ – that the art of arrangements should be invisible, that it should never get in the way of the music but serve and enhance it – Brice’s empathic work finds ways to illuminate and bring out greater depths within Harper’s work that continually surprise and delight. the subtle shading of muted trumpet is often placed alongside Harper’s voice when it ascends heavenward, adding a poignant afterglow to notes that already cause goosebumps and shivers as they waft in the stratosphere. and make no mistake, Harper’s voice is in remarkably good form, capable of bringing a tear to the eye.
at the end, grinning, Harper reveals to us that this might not in fact be his final tour. When something’s as good as this, you don’t ever want it to stop.