All in the Downs review – a memorable Shirley Collins celebration

Queen Elizabeth Corridor, London

An emotional star-studded tribute to a people legend, with a rare appearance by the singer herself

This emotional live performance featured a exceptional array of celebrities and one people legend, who was celebrating her 80th birthday in fashion. Shirley Collins spent a lot of the night within the viewers, and eventually arrived on stage earlier than the encore, to be greeted with a spontaneous Completely satisfied Birthday to You. She has suffered from dysphonia, and infrequently sung in public because the early 1980s, but now she joined in the sing-along finale of Hundreds Or Extra, the cheerful Copper Family track about not needing riches to be completely happy.

Shirley Collins has had a unprecedented career, as song-collector, author and a singer who revived long-forgotten songs together with her pure, haunting voice, and who was all the time prepared to experiment. Her best-known recordings have been made within the 60s and 70s, however her continuing affect was shown by the forged right here. The show opened with eight artists performing songs (principally) from her repertoire, with Blur’s Graham Coxon adding spectacular people baroque guitar to his sturdy acoustic remedy of Cruel Mom, Alasdair Roberts offering a strong unaccompanied rendition of Lord Gregory, and Olivia Chaney on the piano for a cool transforming of All Issues Are Fairly Silent.