It's safe to say that Kate Rusby is something of a folk music legend. Originally from Barnsley, she's been at the forefront of celebrating the music of her Yorkshire roots and beyond for over three decades. Earlier this year, she released her latest album, '30: Happy Returns' earlier this year – the follow-up to 2020's top 10 covers album ‘Hand Me Down' – which features the likes of Richard Hawley, KT Tunstall and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. But she's also become one of the key voices of Christmas, releasing five festive records and embarking on an annual Christmas tour, which last night made its first ever stop at Croydon's Fairfields Hall.
Supported by her five-piece band – including husband Damien O'Kane, who lead the group in a stirring instrumental medley midway through the second set – a brass quintet known as the Brass Boys and Ruby Tuesday the animatronic reindeer, Rusby opened her set with ‘Hark Hark'. It's a mellow, upbeat song that shows the soft, sweet tones of her voice, which glides effortlessly over the lush melody and has a wonderful soothing, comforting feel – you feel like you're in the hands of an expert right from the off. She also revealed that she was battling a cold, but you absolutely wouldn't have known it, with her voice sounding almost indistinguishable from her records.
Over her two sets, Rusby took the packed audience on a journey through the carols she'd sung in the pubs of South Yorkshire, as well as those from further afield such as the sharp yet smooth ‘Cornish Wassailing' and her fusion of two versions of ‘The Dilly Carol'. She also crammed the performance full of jokes and stories, running the gamut from everything to people she'd met at college to the perils of getting older and tales about her family and childhood, as she layered up over her sparkly dress with mittens and a scarf. It added a lovely sense of warmth to the performance and the audience responded to that in spades. She also regularly encouraged them to join in with her on everything from classic carols like ‘O Little Town Of Bethlehem' to the quickfire chorus of the lively ‘Kris Kringle', which she even filmed a snippet of – look out for that at the end of the tour! – and raise their fists in the air as she sang the tale of a Yorkshire Tea-powered superhero in ‘Big Brave Bill Saves Christmas'.
Although there were plenty of bright moments, such as ‘Here We Come A-Wassailing' and the delicate ‘Christmas Is Merry', for me some of the highlights were the moodier tracks. ‘The Holly King' was an early standout, with Rusby introducing the song with how she was inspired to write it on a dog walk, and packed full of drama and storytelling. Elsewhere, second set opener ‘Paradise' had a haunting quality to it that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, with Rusby's angelic voice contrasting the sparse melody, while ‘Let The Bells Ring' provided a wonderfully hopeful yet moving moment. I also loved her various takes on When Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night, including the uplifting ‘Sweet Chiming Bells' and ‘Hail Chime On' with its more laid-back arrangement.
After closing her second set with her take on ‘Winter Wonderland' (and another singalong!), Rusby and her band departed the stage to huge cheers and applause from the audience, before returning for an encore. As is tradition on Rusby's Christmas tours, they ended in fancy dress, with costumes ranging from everything to a horse to a well-known Christmas chocolate box to Barbie and even Father Christmas! Once the crew was assembled, Rusby lead them in a performance of ‘Sweet Bells', the title track of her first Christmas album released back in 2008. For me the performance summed up the whole show – gorgeous vocals, fantastic musicianship from the band, and a wonderful sense of fun and humour.
Overall I left Kate Rusby's Christmas show feeling in a thoroughly festive mood. It's an utterly joyful show that truly celebrates classic carols and folk music, as well as showing off her skills as a songwriter and the talents of her band. Throw in her wonderfully engaging performance, and you feel like you've been transported to a South Yorkshire pub for a few hours and can allow all your worries to melt away. It's definitely something I'm going to try and make a staple of my Christmas season from now on and I'd urge you all to snap up a ticket for next year's tour as soon as you can! And in the meantime, there's always the new album…
Set list: Set 1 – 1. Hark Hark 2. Sweet Chiming Bells 3. Here We Come A-Wassailing 4. Christmas Is Merry 5. The Holly King 6. Cornish Wassailing Song 7. Hail Chime On 8. O Little Town Of Bethlehem Set 2 – 9. Paradise 10. The Dilly Carol 11. Kris Kringle 12. Let The Bells Ring 13. Instrumental Medley (All I Want For Christmas Is You (Mariah Carey cover)/Happy Little Phoebe/Barncarnie Bay/Caden's Smile) 14. Big Brave Bill Saves Christmas 15. Winter Wonderland Encore: 16. Sweet Bells Performance date: 20th December 2022
Kate Rusby's latest album, '30: Happy Returns' is out now on Pure Records.
Kate is on tour in the UK and Ireland throughout 2023. For more information visit https://katerusby.com/gigs/
