Woodman Folk Club - Reviews

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Red Shoes are Carolyn and Mark Evans from Birmingham; a local band with a history that goes right back to the eighties although this was only the second time that I can remember seeing them at the Woodman. The first time, they did a floor spot for us and we were looking forward to their return. The evening was really what a music club should be about; live music with a lot of audience participation. The first happy surprise for us was that our very own Busby was playing bass and guitar for them, and this, combined with Mark's guitar playing and Carolyn's energetic delivery kept the music moving along for what developed into an excellent evening.

They do a number of self penned songs and without doubt one that will stay in my mind is "Celtic Moon" which has an almost hypnotic refrain of "Celtic Moon" .... "Celtic Moon" .... "Celtic Moon" which had everyone in the club singing creating a memorable atmosphere. Another song which will stay with me was their version of "The Two Sisters". This always lends itself to interpretation and they didn't disappoint giving us some inventive lyrics and an original tune.

As the evening moved on, another surprise. They had a friend called Bert in the audience who was a rather excellent drummer and he came out and joined them playing percussion. So our duo, Red Shoes, had transformed from a trio into a four piece band. Whilst all this was going on, the audience carried on joining in choruses, and doing quite a lot of percussion of their own and basically having a thoroughly enjoyable time. But wait!.... more was to come. , when with just a bit of cryptic warning, Carolyne invited a number of floor singers onto the stage for "I Was A Child", transforming the four piece into a choir. Wonderful stuff! Definitely an evening to remember.