Iona

Classic Rock Society Rotherham Rocks
Oakwood Centre - 19 October 2002

Joanne Hogg Image © Chris Walkden 2002

Troy Donockley Image © Chris Walkden 2002

Concert Review

Selected again as the venue for the Classic Rock Society's Rotherham Rocks autumn festival, Oakwood Centre was fitted up for a weekend of fine music from established and emerging bands. Saturday night's bill included Nice Beaver, Tantalus and the Miv Cameron band as support for headliner Iona. With four entirely different sounding bands, it was a superb evening for those that attended. Miv Cameron's band was perfectly placed right before Iona. Lights and sound systems were typical of CRS gigs--dramatic lights highlighted the artists' individual and group performance while sound was powerful and engineered well, albeit a bit boomier than the night before.

Phil Barker Image © Chris Walkden 2002

Dave Bainbridge Image © Chris Walkden 2002

Fronted by lead vocalist Joanne Hogg, Iona's line-up includes Dave Bainbridge (guitars, keyboards), Troy Donockley (uillean pipes, whistles, guitars, backing vocals), Phil Barker (six-string bass) and Frank Van Essen (drums, violin). Jo also played keyboard and acoustic guitar in several of the numbers. The band is extremely cohesive despite two of the key members living far from the other three and their outstanding live performance is a testament to their talent and extensive career working together.

Frank Van Essen Image © Chris Walkden 2002

Troy Donockley Image © Chris Walkden 2002

The Rotherham Rocks 2002 concert was the third stop on a brief UK tour that included venues in Hartlepool and Birmingham on 17-18 October respectively. They are presently promoting a new box set entitled The River Flows (review) which features remasters of their first three albums plus a CD of all new material and a lovely booklet full of photographs that chart Iona's history. The band have two stops on the continent in the final months of 2002 and plan to write their next studio album in 2003. An in-concert DVD is also being discussed.

After the instrumental "Woven Cord" which opened the set, the audience was treated to Joanne's stunning vocal performance of "Wave After Wave," both tracks from Open Sky. As the set developed, the band were given an extremely warm reception and the audience were rewarded with over 90 minutes of incredible music primarily drawn from their last two studio albums. Jigs and reels featured only in the box set were also performed to the audience's delight and provided a source of humour between Joanne, Troy and outspoken fans.

Joanne Hogg Image © Chris Walkden 2002

Troy Donockley and Phil Barker Image © Chris Walkden 2002

With the individual tracks of the set ranging in length, tempo and style, highlights included progressive epics, including the three-part "Songs Of Ascent" and timeless classic "Encircling." Equally enjoyable were the band's progressive and rocking treatments of traditional Celtic jigs and reels as well as more accessible tunes including "Irish Day" and the heartfelt "Open Sky." Reaction to Jo's long-sustained vocal notes in "Revelation" included applause and cheers in the midst of the number. A top vocalist in every dimension, she combines a dramatic stage presence with evocative delivery and demonstrates clarity, range and power second to none. Her keyboard and guitar performances add a significant dimension to the live sound.

Troy Donockley's virtuous talents, highlighted on uillean pipes, whistle and guitar and Dave Bainbridge's guitar solos and keyboard stylings drew significant attention as did Frank Van Essen's drum and violin playing. Iona again demonstrated their ability to engage each person in the audience not only with the power, melody and delivery of their music but with their stagecraft. The band evoke a feeling of happiness and togetherness in their playing and draw the audience into their music. It is unique to Iona; their long-standing commitment to the music and their craft is evident and the audience reaction showed again that it works.

Joanne Hogg Image © Chris Walkden 2002

Dave Bainbridge Image © Chris Walkden 2002

Correspondent Stephen Lambe adds, "Having been overwhelmed by the band's early recordings released on their recent boxedset, I was expecting Iona to deliver a good performance. However many things surprised me. Firstly, I was not expecting the relaxed nature of the performance, with band members bantering easily amongst themselves, with the superb Troy Donockley especially vocal in his humorous 'promotion' of the new box set. Joanne Hogg, too, seemed very relaxed, and I warmed quickly to her down-to-earth manner, as well, of course, to her quite astonishing voice, best exemplified by a spine-tingling version of "Wave After WQve" from Open Sky."

"As to the musicians themselves, well you get a suggestion of the virtuosity on display on CD, but live they are quite astonishing. It is the unison playing between Troy's Uillean pipes and Dave Bainbridge's guitar that is most impressive, especially on "Woven Chord", where Dave's intricate lead guitar is quite breathtaking. Troy, too, is not just a virtuoso on pipes and whistles, he is a marvellously useful musician, also contributing some well placed mandolin, slide and e-bow guitar, as well as some effective backing vocals. A special word, too, should go to clever bassist Phil Barker and the splendid Frank Van Essen, who's intricate yet powerful drumming contrasts delightfully with his sensitive violin work."

Joanne Hogg Image © Chris Walkden 2002

Frank Van Essen Image © Chris Walkden 2002

"Contrasting their longer atmospheric pieces like "Songs of Ascent" and "Encircling" with jigs, reels, and more song orientated material, this was a superb performance that will linger long in the memory."