Cultural Dessert

On Saturday we were at the South Bank Centre in London to hear everyone’s favourite folk big band, Bellowhead (reviewed here in October 2006 and July 2008), performing as part of the ‘Imagine’ children’s literature festival. This free performance in the huge Clore Ballroom space was great fun, slightly hampered by the fact that the set of bookshelves framing the stage meant that most of us couldn’t actually see the band. That didn’t stop us dancing while we craned our necks to see the Bellowhead heads appear above the bookshelves as the band themselves bounced up and down in time to the music – you can’t beat a band that dances to its own tunes. In a sort of English folk music ‘Mamma Mia’ a storyteller wove a fantastical tale to incorporate most of Bellowhead’s repertoire – with occasional vital contributions from the children in the audience (which resulted, for example, in the scary giant having purple hair and black fingers but wearing a ‘I love New York’ t-shirt!). An uplifting, inspiring performance from one of the best live acts of the moment – even when you can’t see them!