Gig review: Joan Baez

Published on Tuesday 13 October 2009 18:56

JOAN BAEZ *** USHER HALL, EDINBURGH

IT WAS clear from the opening lines of her opening number, longtime favourite Lily of the West, that Joan Baez's erstwhile famous soprano (naturally pitched rather lower nowadays) was not in its best shape, beset by both hoarseness and wobbly intonation, and straining uncomfortably for the high notes.

When she spoke, too, she sounded like a woman nursing a cold – a woman who'll be 69 next birthday, however little she looks it – even if she didn't deign to acknowledge any problem.

Baez, of course, is nothing if not a seasoned professional, and over the course of a near two-hour set, her voice did loosen up. While the timbre improved, however, the necessary restraint imposed on her delivery rendered most of her material emotionally lukewarm and dynamically flat.

Though she's never been a belter, her 50-year career has been largely predicated on passionate engagement, be it with songs or causes, but here she often seemed confined to autopilot mode.

There were a few notable exceptions, including an affecting version of the old Scots ballad Mary Hamilton, and a soulful, a cappella Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – although her accompanying story of how she once sang the latter to wake Martin Luther King from a nap, while doubtless true, came across as name-dropping.

Further compensations were supplied by her excellent band, including Irish guitar ace John Doyle, and cajun/Americana multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell, and certainly most of her audience seemed to have few complaints.