Barbara Dickson Reopens St Georges Hall With A Musical Flair

St George's Hall in Bradford re-opened to the public after a multi million pound renovation with a concert by Scottish singer songwriter Barbara Dickson.

The venue has played host over the years to acts as diverse as David Bowie, Roxy Music, The Smiths, Whitesnake, Madness, Peter Kaye and Ken Dodd.

Barbara Dickson's musical career has been mixed too, as essentially she is a folk singer who found mainstream success with more pop oriented songs such as Answer Me and January February. Tellingly it was the latter track that received the most applause from the Bradford audience.

She has a talented 4 piece band as she herself switches easily between acoustic guitar and keyboards. "Well done people of Bradford" she congratulates the audience on their plush and exciting refurbished venue.

Opening up with a Gerry Rafferty song, The Royal Mile (about Edinburgh where she now lives) it was a good reminder of what a gifted songwriter Rafferty was.

Her version of George Harrison's If I Needed Someone was sung from the heart before one of her biggest hits Another Suitcase In Another Hall was aired. The audience seemed to mumble with astonishment as she shared that the song was from 1980 which did not seem that long ago!

Going back to her folk days Lady Franklin's Lament is a traditional folk song about Sir John Franklin's Arctic expedition to the Northwest passage which suited her vocal style more than the pop orientated January February.

James Taylor apparently wrote a track about Franklin called Frozen Man which seemed a natural follow on for Dickson to perform.

She is a good storyteller which in essence is what most folk songs are: telling a good story although she jokes that most folk songs end with someone in the song dying.

The Mike Batt track Run Like The Wind which Dickson recorded in 1980 was one of her lesser known songs, though her version of the Blood Brothers (in which she had starred) Easy Terms track worked well but it was her own hit Caravan where she really shone best.

Ending with another Gerry Rafferty song, The Ark, things had gone full circle ending a mixed set that showed what a talent she is.