Mediaeval Baebes – Bush Hall

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(No video from the night, but here are some photos from the night over the studio version of one of the songs they played)

Why this gig?

Because you should always be open to trying new things. I know next to nothing about the Mediaeval Baebes. But I do have one Miranda Sex Garden CD.

Support

No. Just two sets of the Baebes.

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It wasn’t until I walked into the hall and saw the decorations on the microphone stands that I realised I had gone to a Christmas show by accident. Christmas shows aren’t really my thing at all, but if you’re going to listen to Christmas carols then listening to (pseudo-)medieval arrangements of them is about as good as it gets. And it’s not all Christmas carols anyway. There are plenty of other songs too.

There are six women in the band. Most of them stand in a line at the front of the stage and one sits behind playing the cello (I think it’s a cello – could be a medieval equivalent). The women all sing (beautifully) but they all play various other instruments too. After pretty much every song,  there’s a reshuffle as they all changes places to get ready for the next. Oh, and one of the woman does a bit of clog dancing too – to rapturous applause.

There are a lot of songs that I don’t know. In fact, it’s probably only the carols that I recognise. I even recognise a couple of reasonably obscure carols (“Gaudete” and “In Dulce Jubilo” – but that’s thanks to Steeleye Span and Mike Oldfield rather than through any in depth knowledge of obscure English carols). But even when I don’t know the songs, it’s all really rather lovely. It’s great to get back to your cultural history every once in while.

I’m not sure I’ll be rushing back every Christmas (and I’d love to hear what they do for a less seasonable show) but I’ll definitely be going back to see them again at some point.

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