Skipinnish @ Xmas 16/12/2022

Where: Inverness Leisure Centre – Inverness, Scotland (UK)

Venue rating: 8/10 (it was kind of a big garage)

Who I went with: PAUL! I convinced him to come with me

Where I stayed: My house

How I travelled there: Paul drove

Beverage of choice: No idea. Most likely something alcoholic before heading out

SETLIST:

Walking On The Waves
The Hag
Land Below The Waves
Coire Bhreacain
December
Nelson Mandela
The Island
Puirt Set
Anchors Of The Soul
The Atholl Set
Summer Call
Last Of The Hunters
20th Anniversary Jigs
Steer By The Stars
Alba
Piper To The End
The Lads Of Mull
Western Ocean
Alive
The Old Woman
Farewell (Encore)
Fairytale Of New York (The Pogues cover) (Encore)
Walking On The Waves (Encore)

I had a few days off work, so was looking for even more gigs to go to. I only had one night in Glasgow booked at the time but we all know how that worked out (if you read my previous blogs). Anyway, I saw Skipinnish were performing in Inverness and was surprised to see there were still tickets available as they are very popular here. Paul and I saw them at the end of 2019 at the Northern Meeting Park for The Red Hot Highland Fling and I think he enjoyed them more than I did. We both liked them enough to download their songs afterwards. Torridon were also performing there and were very good but we both preferred Skippinish, having seen neither of those bands before and having no preconceived opinions. I don’t usually gravitate towards Scottish/folk music but their songs are catchy and not too bagpipes-heavy. They also performed in Inverness in the summer, on the same day I saw Duran Duran. By the sound of it, they were the better choice because the atmosphere seemed a lot better and they were performing inside a tent so nobody got soaking wet (unless they spilled drinks on themselves). I hoped Paul would be down for seeing them again, especially since they were playing locally. He agreed to come with me without much hesitation, so I was delighted. My aim was to go to twenty-two concerts in 2022 but this one was my thirtieth! So it ended up being thirty concerts for turning thirty, instead.

I couldn’t figure out how to collect the physical tickets, since I bought them on Ticketmaster like I usually do. I got an e-mail to say I would need to collect the tickets from the box office, which was something I’d never seen before. Paul and I went to Inverness Leisure Centre early in the week to see whether we could pick them up because I don’t like leaving things like that to the last minute and prefer to have the tickets in hand, to make sure we were 100% getting in. We asked at the reception desk by the swimming pool and they didn’t know where we could pick up the tickets, suggesting maybe Cafferys would have them – a men’s clothing shop. Whenever Live In The City promote music events in Inverness they say you can pick the tickets up there but I didn’t think we would be able to, since I didn’t book directly through them. Finally, someone (possibly the manager) told us there should be a box office where we can collect our tickets on the day as that’s how it usually works. I was relieved they knew about the event (as they didn’t seem sure at first) and the whole thing wasn’t just a wind-up. I guess we were the first to inquire about tickets because they seemed to be caught off-guard. Thankfully, it worked out okay for us and we were able to collect our tickets on the day at a pop-up box office near the car park. The whole thing was more confusing than it needed to be though.

Paul picked me up when he finished work and we headed straight to the venue. I was disappointed Sandi Thom wouldn’t be performing as the opening act anymore as I wanted to hear ‘I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker’ (admittedly the only song I know of hers). I thought she was cancelling due to the bad weather but it was because she’d come down with the flu and it was understandably affecting her vocal chords. People on Facebook and Twitter didn’t seem as phased by this news as I was since Dylan James Tierney was set to replace her. He is a musician from Inverness and had a lot of support from the crowd, for obvious reasons. We couldn’t understand why he received such a loud and enthusiastic reaction as we had never heard of him but I Googled him and soon figured it out. It was a great opportunity for him to showcase his talent. He said he was just back from Paolo Nutini and Paul and I couldn’t tell whether he was attending the concerts as a fan or playing an instrument somewhere on stage. We didn’t recognise him from any of my photos and couldn’t find any information online, so we gathered he was most likely in the crowd. He had to rush home to Inverness when he was asked to perform, so I hope he had better luck travelling back than I did.

We collected our tickets once the girl eventually noticed we were standing at the window. A man also working there told her off for not paying attention but it was in good humour. She asked if we were cold since we weren’t wearing jackets. I hoped it would be warmer in the venue! I tried to dress up for once and didn’t want to chuck a massive jacket on top of my carefully selected dress. Paul hardly ever wears a jacket but even he was feeling the cold. We sat in the car for a while because we were early and didn’t fancy standing outside for ages. All of a sudden, the queue was a lot bigger. Then it went down completely, so we realised they were letting people in before the official opening time. We decided to go in to try and get a reasonable spot near the stage. The men checking our bags were funny. One of them was disappointed I didn’t try and sneak anything in, like mini vodka bottles. I started craving something fattening when we passed the food vans, so Paul went out to grab something for us. I had chips and curry sauce but ended up getting the curry everywhere somehow. So much for trying to look nice! My clutch bag smelled like curry for weeks after this. He got “loaded chips” and they looked much more appetising than mine. I was jealous! We both had hot chocolate which didn’t go with our food but warmed us up a lot.

Soon, Dylan James Tierney took to the stage and was welcomed by deafening applause. I enjoyed his music but, like usual, can’t remember the songs well. I would like to listen to him again though and am interested to see whether he often performs at local venues. I imagine he does, since so many people recognised him and were eager to show their support. He performed ten songs in total, which were mostly originals. He also did a fantastic cover of ‘Caledonia’. There are so many covers of that song, I don’t even know for sure who sang the original. Dougie MacLean? Regardless of who sang it first, he did a a great job and the crowd ate it up. I always think it’s a good idea for lesser known artists to add at least one cover to their set, as people are more likely to know it and dance along. A surprising percentage of the room was singing along to his original material! So he didn’t have any trouble winning people over.

Skipinnish came on shortly after DJT and continued to entertain the crowd. It’s always impressive hearing them live as there are so many members of the band, all playing a range of different instruments in perfect unison. The crowd went wild for them and the energy was contagious. The atmosphere was fantastic throughout the night and didn’t die down at any point. People were singing, dancing, clapping, jumping up and down etc. Crowds here tend to go crazier for Scottish bands than they do for anyone else. I think they feel proud there are good local bands and maybe it’s also a bit of a pride and identity thing. It reminds me of football in a way. The best parts, of course.

I recognised some of their songs from when we heard them a few years back but there were also a few new songs in the mix, including a cover of ‘Fairytale in New York’ by The Pogues. Funnily enough, Paolo Nutini did a cover of this song in Glasgow on the same night. I’m not a huge fan of the song (or many Christmas songs, for that matter) but it was a gorgeous cover and breathed new life into the song. It’s not a song I would expect them to perform and I appreciated that about it. That Christmas song and the festive decorations all over the stage made me feel a little more Christmassy, which is hard to do. I adored the lit-up Santa and Snowman perched in the corners of the stage. They were hilarious and having them there was a nice touch, going the extra mile to add festive cheer to the night. I was glad we were stationed in front of the cute Snowman, as Santa looked like he’d had a rough life.

They said they always enjoy performing in Inverness and complimented the enthusiastic crowd. They referred to their performance at the Big Top Tent at Bught Park in July and how they would come back and perform in front of us anytime. They blasted through each of their songs energetically until we got to a sentimental part of the night. Before they played ‘Piper To The End’ they explained to us their piper of twelve years, Ally “Swally” Murray would be leaving the band after a couple more shows. It was nice they played tribute to him and shone a lot of light on him as a friend and musician. They had a lot of kind words to say about him and I think the song said more than they could have done on stage. It was an excellent choice of song to say goodbye to him. This is what they wrote on Facebook a few days before the event:

“A Fond Farewell to Alasdair Murray

As we announced last Friday at the Barrowland, Ally Murray, our stalwart piper of over 12 years is saying farewell to Skipinnish this coming weekend, with Inverness and Perth being his final gigs as a fulltime member of the band.

Ally came to work with us in the Skipinnish Ceilidh House in Oban in the summer of 2010 and from then until he leaves the stage of Perth Concert Hall this Saturday he has been an integral part of all things Skipinnish.

Ally’s character and diversity as a musician and human being meant that he was able to cover many roles with us over the years – barman, cleaner, drummer, whistle player, bodhran player, CD seller, labourer, assistant doorman, driver, ticket seller, cashier and of course piper. From the low points of cleaning vomit in the toilets of a night club, to the high points of recent years playing to over 5000 Skipinnish fans at Bught park, Inverness and Stirling Castle, he has been a pleasure to work with. Ally has always been totally dependable, never negative, always early and always good fun.

With a young family and busy work commitments with his job as a college lecturer, Ally made the considered and sensible decision a few months ago that time away doing gigs across the UK and abroad was something that would have to come to an end. We will miss Ally greatly but we absolutely understand and respect his decision.

Ally has been amazing to work with for all of his twelve and a half years with Skipinnish and will remain a close friend of the band until the rest of us leave the stage for the last time, whenever that may be!

P.S. Early in Ally’s Skipinnish career he gained the nickname “Swally” due to his enthusiasm and talent for having a good dram! Although the years have made us all a bit more sensible, we still enjoy a good swally together now and again and as such will be having a good celebratory farewell next weekend to mark his onward voyage!

For all who want to help us give Ally a good send off, there’s still tickets available for both Inverness and Perth this weekend!”

I think we did a great job cheering him on during his penultimate show. It’s always sad when a member leaves, even in bands with several members such as this. Norrie MacIver wasn’t always the lead singer of Skipinnish and took over from Robert Robertson (now the frontman of Tide Lines) in 2016. We didn’t see them until three years later so don’t know any different but NM’s brilliant and has amazing charisma. Fans seem to have welcomed him with open arms, as they continue to draw in massive crowds as noted above.

I couldn’t remember all of the songs at the end of the night or how they were ordered but Paul messaged the band and got sent an online copy of the set list from Angus MacPhail, with detailed notes! It was interesting to see the version they used, describing who would introduce each song and including notes such as “Straight in” before a few songs and “Norrie Big Hello” and “Ally leaving” as reminders. I love these behind the scenes details and getting clues to how the band think and operate. They seem like really nice people who fully appreciate their fans. I hope I get the opportunity to see them again and something tells me I will because they perform here a lot and don’t ignore the Highlands.

GALLERY: