Back in April Gigspanner Big Band released Natural Invention when they were also our Artist of the Month. In his album review, Thomas Blake described Natural Invention as “thrillingly, frighteningly, beautifully of our time”, adding that with the Gigspanner Big Band, Peter Knight had assembled “a group of musicians intent on making some of the most important and exhilarating art ever to sit under the banner of folk music.”
In terms of talent they are a veritable powerhouse, spearheaded by Peter Knight, a giant of the folk scene whose singular fiddle playing has enriched the British music scene for more than four decades. He is joined by the acoustic and electric guitarist Roger Flack and effervescent percussionist Sacha Trochet, award-winning duo Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin (Edgelarks) and John Spiers, a founder member of Bellowhead, described as “one of the best melodeon players of his generation”.
As we’ve said before on these pages, and as proven by their incredible live album, they are a band that really thrive when performing together live. That said, logistically it’s not always been easy getting them together in one place but – the good news is that, at long last, Gigspanner Big Band are to perform an official launch gig for Natural Invention this month.
The live streamed gig, which will take place on Monday, September 21 at Oxfordshire’s famous Nettlebed Folk Club, presents a rare opportunity for an audience to ‘be there’ by tuning in and hearing the critically acclaimed album (released in April) performed in real time.
With former Steeleye Span fiddle ace Peter Knight living in France and the rest of the band in England, it has only become possible as the band are due to play at probably the only UK folk festival to go ahead this year – Shropshire’s sold-out Beardy Festival – the day before.
Mike Sanderson, the organiser of Nettlebed Folk Club, offered the band a platform and they seized the opportunity to finally reunite and showcase the album after their planned April/May UK tour was thwarted by the COVID crisis.
Says Knight: “It’s a fortunate stroke of serendipity that all six of us are able to be together for this one-off gig. It’s unlikely we will have another opportunity to join forces again for some time and we are looking forward to putting the disappointment of the cancelled tour behind us and performing what we hope will be a really heart-warming show to celebrate an album we all so enjoyed making.”
Tickets, price £20 (plus booking fee), are available from Event Brite:
The concert kicks off at 8pm and the box office will close at 12 noon on the day of the gig. Audience members will be sent an access code to the YouTube live stream and will be able to watch it multiple times or tune in later if they are busy at the time of the broadcast.
There will also be a special Zoom ‘Meet the Band’ session afterwards limited to 100.
As a reminder, watch them performing Awake Awake live, filmed at The Apex, Bury St Edmunds, in November 2019:
Get Your Tickets Now via Event Brite:
‘Natural Invention’ is out now and available from https://www.gigspanner.com/shop
The Gigspanner Big Band are Peter Knight – Fiddle, Vocals
Roger Flack – Guitar, Bass, Vocals
Phillip Henry – Dobro, Slide Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
Hannah Martin – Fiddle, Banjo, Tenor Guitar, Vocals
John Spiers – Melodeon, Concertina, Vocals
Sacha Trochet – Bass, Percussion, Vocals
www.gigspanner.com
www.edgelarks.co.uk
www.johnspiers.co.uk
Photo Credit: Rob Bridge – Redwood Photography