STORM THIEVES/ANDY GRIFFITHS
IMV 12th April 2026
Opening the show was brilliant local singer/songwriter Andy Griffiths who treated us to a really beautiful set of his own songs. Andy is a fine singer and guitar player and writes some really great material covering a range of topics, though as he says, rarely a love song. He has an easy charm and warmth which shines through with both his songs and stage presence which keeps the audience engaged and delighted throughout.
To end the set Andy offered a choice either a 9-minute seafaring drama or a shorter less depressing piece... i would have loved the seafaring drama (a song i always love when he plays it) but his choice of "Last Orders" proved a perfect conclusion to what had been a marvellous and hugely enjoyable set... quality from the beginning to the end!!
Headlining were the STORM THIEVES, re-uniting after a space of 12 years... The band are Chris Conway playing keyboard, 12-string guitar, flute, whistle and kalimba, Dan Britton on guitar & bodhran and Dave Everitt on guitar... 3 superb singers and musicians blending together to make a great and unique band. On this occasion ably assisted by the excellent Neil Rabjohn on cahon and percussion. The band are really undefinable, you may expect such a line-up may fall into a bit of a CSN sound, but they are far from it. Three guys who have played together in different combinations for ages, but who all have different musical backgrounds, showing clear influences of celtic, jazz and classical
Each of the band has a series of their own songs in the bands back catalogue and they take it in turn to play one of their own songs with the others accompanying. All three write superb and very different songs which in part accounts for the great variety within the set..
Chris shows his versatility playing a range of instruments throughout the set, and his songs in this context often had a slightly harder edge than you would expect from his solo work, but maintain a strong jazz influence.
Dan's music has a more celtic strain, his guitar work always rhythmic and strong while Dave has a distinctly classical strain to his playing.
I know the talents of Chris and Dan from their solo work, duo and band collaborations and their quality needs no introduction. It was however, the first time i'd seen Dave play and i found his finger picking absolutely beautiful and riveting throughout.. his songs also tended more to the poetic and were outstanding.
The Storm Thieves delivered a simply wonderful and inspiring set.. the musicians clearly in complete empathy together and loving the experience of being together again.
Impossible to pick out highlights, the whole set was outstanding and totally uplifting, and they ended on an instrumental improvisiton showing the musical prowess of each of them.. the piece bounded along wonderfully and gave Chris the opportunity to play keyboard, guitar, flute, two whistles simultaneously and kalimba during a single improvised number.
Absolutely superb performance from beginning to end and a total joy and privilege to have been there to see it
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