The Unthanks, Albert Hall Manchester - Review

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Posted 2024-01-02 by David Keyworth ⇒ follow

Wed 20 Dec 2023

On the night before the darkest day of the year, The Unthanks unpacked their folk heritage in drizzly Manchester for the latest stop on their The Unthanks In Winter tour - described as a ‘Dream-like Winter fantasia.’

The first number came closest to being traditionally festive. Rachel and Becky walked on stage tambourines in hand and, beneath the lofty organ pipes, treated us to O Christmas Tree. It didn’t light up the festive tree at the side of the stage but this might have been because it had used up its electricity during the delayed start, caused by a broken piano being replaced.

. Photo: Kitty Handley

Once proceedings were belatedly underway, what followed was “Two parts dark to one part schmaltz”, as pianist and composer Adrian McNally said.

One of the first songs the sisters performed asked the question ‘Should we curse the winter?’ They made a musical argument for not doing this or at least they offered a gateway into finding the beauty in the frost.

Their performance of one of the more well-known tunes - O Come All Ye Faithful - let alone the murderous Coventry Carol - was one of the most haunting versions I have heard. It often sounded as though Rachel and Becky formed one voice, divided into two parts. The sisters were ever present at the microphone but the cast of musicians slipped in and out and swapped instruments as the song required.

. Photo: Kitty Handley

What kept us hanging on every line was the way they sang each note and phrase with resonance, whilst never using the essence of their Tyneside accents.

It was not the most comfortable concert experience I have ever experienced, with the capacity audience squeezed tightly together. I found myself wishing for the more comfortable, purpose-built spaces of the Bridgewater or the Stoller Hall. But those venues would not have had the same Gothic enchantment of the former home of the Manchester and Salford Wesleyan Mission.

The electric lights of Christmas party Manchester were filtered through the stained glass windows. This is, after all, a city which thinks ‘a table is for dancing on,’ as presenter of BBC Radio 2’s Folk Show Mark Radcliffe memorably said.

This was far from a rave but there was some dancing and it drew the biggest cheer of the night. Rachel performed something resembling a clog dance with nonchalant elegance.

They risked breaking the musical spell of the night at the close as they encouraged us to join in Tar Barrel in Dale, written by their father, George Unthank. We hesitantly accompanied them to the song’s refrain - ’Til that happy time when we meet again’.

They were soon back on stage to perform Dear Companion as their encore.

Elsewhere across town, the owner of another superlative voice was performing at the AO Arena. Imagine a Tom Jones and Unthanks joint concert? That really would be an event to bring a warm glow to any night of the year.

Before The Unthanks, Katherine Priddy gave us half an hour of crystal clear singing and dexterous guitar playing as she showcased her own songs, including a poignant number called First House on the Left, about the way that an ordinary seeming abode will hold precious memories to someone who grew up there.

The Unthanks played the Albert Hall as they brought their tour to its last few concerts. Having started at Warwick Arts Centre on 8 December, the tour reached the end of its road at Snape Maltings Concert Hall , in Suffolk on 22 December.

Manchester’s Albert Hall is a Grade II listed chapel in Manchester city centre, which was closed for over 40 years. It was built as a Methodist central hall in 1908. The main floor was used as a nightclub, Brannigans, from 1999 to 2011. The second floor, the Chapel Hall, unused since 1969, was renovated in 2012–14 for music concerts

The venue hosted a few events towards the end of 2013. It officially reopened on 6 February 2014, with a performance by singer-songwriter, Anna Calvi.