Last night I saw one of the best concerts of my life, Talisk at Rockwood Music Hall. It was so great that instead of my usual clever opening that buries the lede I put this right up front so people seeing the preview will read this. It’s imperative that everyone that loves great music know about Talisk. They are a Scottish band that I know from last year’s Folk Alliance International Virtual Conference. That was a year and a half ago and thanks to the pandemic it’s the last I heard from them until a friend told me that they would be at Rockwood. I immediately put it on my calendar.
Talisk is an instrumental trio, fiddle, concertina, and guitar and stompbox. With no words, but some vocal, they tear down the walls between worlds. I don’t know if they are fending off the Old Ones, inviting the Elder Gods, or opening a portal to the Dreaming; I just know that when they are playing the listener is no longer just on the earth. It is impossible to stand still, the music enters your ears and encompasses your mind, body, and soul. I started the show in my usual Statler and Waldorf Seats in the Rockwood Mezzanine, but they asked the crowd to come on the floor, so I did. Good thing or I might have lost control and gone over the railing. I took my usual standing spot, right down front, just far enough away to get proper sound. There was no one between me and the band just as there was no veil between this world and the others.
Duke Ellington once claimed that there are only two kinds of music that swing: American jazz and Scottish dance music; “There is an inherent feeling for wild music in Scottish nature, and there is a definite relationship between the rhythms of reels and the Highland fling and the music I play.” That wild nature was out in full force last night. The music hardly let up. When a set started with an air it always transformed into a fling. There was no rest and I wanted none. I was tired out just listening and moving. I have no idea how the musicians got through it. I was not the only one so affected. A young couple started dancing in a way that reminded me of the youths at Bilbo’s Birthday Party. They dance with wild abandon. Later all the people around them joined in. I wanted to but found that my back was not up to it. I moved but not with the energy I would have liked. My feet only left the ground a few times. After the show I talked to the couple and their friends and told them how happy they made me. We shared our love of the music. It was loud and hard to hear but I thought I detected a Celtic lilt to one of their friend’s voice. I was right, she is from Wales. She felt that she needed to point out that it’s part of the UK. She didn’t know I was a cymryphile. How could she? I resisted proposing even though I melt at a Welsh accent.
I have literally gone to thousands of concerts for me to say this is one of the best every is saying something. I was more excited at this than seeing Elvis Costello. There was as much group energy in Rockwood as in a rock arena. I can’t imagine someone not enjoying the music. I love Talisk recorded but there’s nothing like seeing them live. They are playing tomorrow and Friday at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. If you are going to be there do NOT miss their sets. Then they are back to the UK, but they will be in the Pacific Northwest including Vancouver in November. I have friends out there. Go.
I took one video as that’s as long as I could stand still for. I hope it captures at least a hint of the magic.
Wise Madness 