Gig review: Fiddler's Bid

Published on Monday 5 April 2010 19:02

FIDDLERS' BID ***** HEART OF HAWICK

IT'S a long way from Lerwick to Hawick, but the 486-mile journey appeared to have little effect on the almost supernatural ability of Fiddler's Bid to pull off another five-star performance for the folk of Hawick.

However, that's not to say the band aren't human. Technical gremlins courtesy of de facto leader Chris Stout's fiddle raised a few eyebrows early on; guitarist Fionan de Barra got his fingers stuck during his only solo, and Catriona McKay was at one point forced to play piano with her right hand and the harp with her left.

For an instrumental band, Bid are fond of a blether – Stout's revelation about being pipped to the top of the Shetland charts by (band chatterbox) Maurice Henderson's storytelling CD one of the more believable anecdotes of the night.

As for the tunes? Well, from the pizzicato perfection of Midnight (or, "Shetland Morse code" as the band eloquently described it), to the spine-tingling majesty of Swan LK243 (arguably the best modern tune about a sunken fishing boat), once Bid whisked you off your feet, there was little chance finding hard ground again.

Another seductress, The White Wife – apparently Shetland's answer to kerb-crawling – segued delightfully into an anthem about avid Dundee United supporter Stout's Tangerine Dream. When they finished up with a Faroese ring-dance, had the band played all 100 verses the audience would still have done their bidding.