When I got home, I felt like throwing out all my instruments. It wasn't just the virtuosity (and there was plenty of that) it was the sheer musical taste with which everything was done. All the musicians were listening closely to each other, and the arrangements felt almost telepathic at times. It wasn't 'tight' in the sense of a well-rehearsed band, it was just a bunch of top-class players working really hard to make each other sound good. The stage was set out with a performing area at the front, and a couple of big comfy sofas at the back. It was obvious that new ideas were being cooked up on the sofas by the people who weren't playing at that point. This led to some fabulously unexpected contributions, especially on backing vocals. Cara Dillon sang one of her own songs at one point, and the backing vocalists were Tim and Mollie O'Brien, Karen Matheson, Dan Tyminski and Sara Watkins, all clustered round one mike at the back. The range of music was awesome (a bluegrass version of the Hendrix version of 'Hey Joe', anyone?) The house band are what holds the whole thing together, they don't do anything flash (until it's their turn!) but they simply nail the accompaniment for the others. They play their last show at the Festival Hall tomorrow, but they were talking about all taking a few days off and just playing together some more, just for the fun of it.
I'm really glad I saw this one; I've never been to a concert of any kind where that kind of level was sustained for three hours.