“Music is the art which is most nigh to tears and memory.” - Oscar Wilde

Horror of horrors, I was moved (for a day) to another ward the other day. Care of the elderly, which by it's very nature is physically very demanding. Of course the next day I could hardly walk, my vintage 90s back injury flaring up big style.

Last night I went to see 'The Unthanks' (more on that later), and two hours of attempting to sit bolt upright have made it even worse. I can hardly walk!

As to the Unthanks gig. I arrived ridiculously early, and they wouldn't let me go upstairs (gig was at Newcastle's Discovery Museum, a wonderful museum and the 'Great Hall' is a marvellous space to listen to music).

As I sat waiting more and more people arrived and yet none of them were coming back outside. The rascals! they'd let people form a cue up the stairs! Anyway, the show itself was in the round, and I was in the second row, so I had a frankly incredible view. due to the lay out of the space I was variously only a few feet from Becky and then Rachel Unthank, it simply couldn't have been any better.

Since the evening was advertised as an 'intimate' one (and it surely was) there was a stripped down five piece only, and frankly it only made the emotion of the music more intense. A lot of the songs I was unfamiliar with, but they were still transcendent, the familiar tracks had me welling up with tears. Rachel Unthank herself was absolutely adorable, and, apologies to her husband, my new celebrity crush.

The highlights were Becky Unthanks incredibly moving version of Nick Drakes 'Riverman', and very uplifting rendition of 'Here's The Tender Coming'. I wish they had played my favourite of theirs, 'Fareweel Regality', but you can't have everything, where would you put it? (thanks to Steven Wright).

As a super duper added bonus I got a fine view of the much hoped for clog dancing the Unthanks are famous for. I'd thought the nature of the evening would mean clog dancing would be excluded , but I was delighted to be wrong.

Now how I wish I hadn't chickened out last year when they played gosh darned Durham Cathedral! along with the Brighouse Brass Band!! What was I thinking in not going?? (frankly I was worried about the sad spectacle of the lonely middle aged man).

Apart from the back pain, I'm feeling uncharacteristically euphoric.

(they sang a song which mentioned Vancouver, that made me smile... )

“Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul” - Plato