Reviews / A legend who strides the generations
ON MONDAY night at the Clickimin Centre, a crowd from across the isles gathered to see a legend.
It was a crowd from across the generations, those first fans, the children brought up on the songs and the grand bairns who saw him first as an actor.
Kris Kristofferson strode onto the stage, said hello and just got stuck into singing 30 songs from his songbook.
More than a country singer, Kristofferson is probably one the finest songwriters of his generation.
The songs were so well known that the crowd recognised and acknowledged them all, after the first line most times, and the most famous came early in the set.
Me and Bobby McGee, third song in, brought a cheer for Janice Joplin when he gave her a mention and a nod towards the end of the song.
Not all were old favourites either, with Feeling Mortal, the title track of his latest album, probably one of the strongest performances of the night, along with Sabre and the Rose and They Killed Him.
There’s a serious side to Kristofferson’s writing – They Killed Him showed his politics – but there was a lot of humour throughout the show both from his little asides during songs, and in the stories he told.
The tale of his five year old son’s critique of Silver Tongued Devil raised the biggest laugh, and it was moments like these that lifted the concert. It would have made the night just that little bit more special had there been a bit more banter between the songs.
Kristofferson’s set list has changed slightly over the years, but with a collection of hits going back to the late ‘60s – and great songs at that – why not give folks what they want?
Even if you went along only knowing Me and Bobby McGee, by the end of the night you realised just how many great songs he has written: Help Me Make It Through The Night, Sunday Morning Comin’ Down, Silver Tongued Devil and, for me, a surprise playing of Jesus Was A Capricorn.
Songs of love, heartache, looking back on life and of redemption, Kristofferson has lived it and written about it all.
The audience was spellbound from the outset and respectful, as only a Shetland audience can be.
As to the 77 year old himself, the voice might sound old and the guitar picking a bit slower than the last time I saw him seven years ago (one of the reasons I was not sure about going), but in the end this was Kris Kristofferson in Shetland playing live and we do not get many legends like him coming this way too often.
So I’m glad to have had the opportunity to go, and the songs will still be sung in the early hours of the morning ower a dram.
The evening started with a fine acoustic set from Scottish songwriter Roddy Hart, accompanied by Gordon Turner on guitar and piano from his band The Lonesome Fire.
Hart has been supporting Kris Kristofferson on his UK tours for over seven years now and is his personal choice as support.
He played a varied set with songs from his three solo albums and his new one with The Lonesome Fire. By the second song the audience was warming to him and by the end of the set the Clickimin had accepted him; hopefully a full band gig in Shetland can not be far away.
And it was great for Shetland to get its first taste of Kris Kristofferson when he came on to sing with Hart.
That growl of a voice added just that extra bit of depth to the song Home.
Jimmy Carlyle
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