Police Dog Hogan deliver fantastic night of great music

Police Dog Hogan with support Sons Of Town Hall at Arlington Arts on Friday, December 1

Review by BRIAN HARRINGTON

SONS of Town Hall are a duo who have invented a whole musical back-story and personas for themselves as sea-borne wandering minstrels who take on a variety of menial jobs (such as mucking-out elephants at a circus) to fund their travels.

Their show was a creative blend of performance art, witty dark humour and cleverly written, excellently played folk.

It has been a long time since I have seen a support act so well received by a capacity audience and it was richly deserved.

At the interval their ‘dry goods store’ was doing a roaring trade in merchandise, which is always a good guide to audience satisfaction.

If tonight had ended after their all-too-brief 45-minute set, I think nobody would have felt short-changed. I hope they return for a headline show soon.

Tracks like Louise, The Line Between, St Christopher and Antarctica (It’s Who We Are) were wonderful.

With a support act this good audiences might be forgiven for wondering whether the headliner can top them. Police Dog Hogan absolutely did.

Opening with the rousing Hold On they put on a brilliant set. Thunderheads was wonderful, as was Westward Ho!, a track introduced as a celebration of the car park which is also known as the A303.

I loved Here Comes Crow, a song inspired by a crow visiting daily at the crack of dawn and pecking at the bedroom window.

Kathleen O’Hare with its opening line of ‘he had a face full of punched-out lights’ was a real stand-out song as was Let My Spirit Rise.

Sons Of Town Hall joined Police Dog Hogan on stage for the encore track First Christmas Alone. Surely the perfect ending to a superb show on a frosty December night.

A fantastic night of great folk music.