Bert Inspired: a Concert for Bert Jansch review – fond renditions and a lot of guitar tuning

Graham Coxon

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Graham Coxon, Bernard Butler and Robert Plant be a part of a diverse, stellar lineup and pay handsome tribute to the guitar hero

Jazz-folk veterans, Britpop pin-ups, basic rock icons, up-and-coming singer-songwriters – what number of different musicians besides Bert Jansch sit at such a spaghetti junction of affect? A stellar lineup assembles to remember the late Pentangle founder member and finger-picking guitar hero in his metropolis of start on the first of two Celtic Connections curtain-closing live shows in his honour. A night of fond renditions and recollections, and a whole lot of guitar tuning.

Graham Coxon had written beforehand of how nervous he was on meeting Jansch. The Blur guitarist appears twitchy here, too, as he performs an affectionate One for Jo and a “Bert-imbued” solo composition Latte, however returns later, rather more comfortable, for a tricksy twang on Angie along with Martin Simpson. Elsewhere earlier than the interval we get songs from Jansch’s former fellow Pentanglers Jacqui McShee and Mike Piggott, and Jansch’s one-time mentor Archie Fisher doing Down by Blackwaterside – Jansch’s association that he once famously accused Led Zeppelin of ripping off with Black Mountain Aspect.

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