Sons Of Town Hall’s Ben Parker, in the guise of George Ulysses Brown, at The Dolphin, Robin Hood’s Bay. All pictures: Paul Rhodes
TEN long years on a raft together were two migrants. You’d imagine they’d want to run in separate directions the moment they made landfall.
Somehow, joyfully, Ben Parker and David Berkeley, appearing as their ageless characters who make up Sons Of Town Hall, are still as fresh and fun while their music strikes both deep and popular notes. Their two North Yorkshire shows showed off their talents.
Word had spread, so admirers clogged the waterways to Robin Hood’s Bay and Ripon (where apparently there was not a berth to be had for love or money) to see this fine pair perform their mix of folk, comedy and a winning story of travel and enduring friendship.
Sons Of Town Hall’s David Berkeley in the guise of Josiah Chester Jones at The Dolphin, Robin Hood’s Bay
On record, Sons Of Town Hall create music that makes you think, providing solace in desperate times, but the live experience is altogether more immersive. For the unfamiliar, Sons of Town Hall have created an ever-elaborating story of being Victorian water boatmen who try but fail at numerous jobs and run into the occasional celebrity such as Ernest Shackleton (which inspired Antarctica).
Their stories are also well travelled, but the interplay between the two is so natural that it never feels forced and there is plenty of ad-libbing. The way they step outside the story to laugh at themselves only adds yet another layer.
It is all said with a twinkle and the deft timing of two pro comics. The only thing sepia about them were their clothes, hats and boots.
Sons Of Town Hall in tandem at The Dolphin
The crowd is expected to sing along (“if you don’t sing we’ll stop,” they joked). In Robin Hoods’s Bay, a location tailor-made for these performers, it was a lively, loud and engaged room. Ben engaged in a comic battle of wits with Row 2, dealing with these admirers superbly.
Sons of Town Hall are familiar faces in Ripon, where they have played many times. Last Tuesday the set list drew less on their Of Ghosts And Gods album and included some welcome older material, with The Man With Two Wives one of several highlights.
Back at the coast, the call-and-response songs rang loud and true, especially the traditional I Saw A Light and their own Bossman. These touring songs are probably too generic to stand alone on record, but in situ they worked a treat.
At the start of the tour, they seemed well rested, but unencumbered by any rust from not playing together. Their interplay clearly runs deep.
Ripon Arts Hub concert co-organiser Nick Thompson being acknowledged by the audience as he prepares for retirement
These unusual migrants tend to return twice a year, which makes them something of an outlier, and musically, too, they are a rarity with their combination of beautiful harmonies and incisive, crafted lyrics, presented with the bravura of the tavern and timing that could grace the largest stages.
None of this would be possible without the efforts of Nick (Thompson) and Kate in Ripon, Dave and Helen (on a mission to make The Dolphin a restored jewel in Robin Hood’s Bay) and James Duffy, the Hurricane Promotions promoter, taking another chance. Live music is a tough business, but warm and welcoming venues provide safe harbour.
Once the spell of the performance is over, you are left with a memory and a smile. A moment that somehow captures how people respond to Sons of Town Hall was an impromptu encore of In My Arms Once More from the gents over the urinals. All in all, probably the most fun you can have without taking off your hat.
Booted and suited at Ripon Arts Hub
Review by Paul Rhodes