Eddi Reader
Eden Court Theatre - 11/09/22
Why has it taken me 78 years to discover the wonderful Eddi Reader? Perhaps being London-centric for most of my life she hasn’t featured on Essex FM or the BBC1 at all. What had I been missing all these years? We first encountered her ‘Songs of Robert Burns’ in a New Year celebration on BBC Scotland. As Scotland’s greatest living voice, we leapt at the opportunity to see her live at Eden Court Theatre in Inverness last weekend. A Sunday night treat, following a visit two days earlier to experience ‘Burn’ with Alan Cumming. The evening was a slow start with a nice warm-up act encouraged by a friendly audience. A short interval while the technicians checked the stage and on she came. Dressed in a loose flowing dress and an embroidered coat to die for, she was everything and more than I had hoped for. Theatrical, full of swirling movement, she was the antipathy of every artist who just stands behind the mike and goes on and on. She has an astonishing vocal range and inhabits every song she delivers. Of course she is backed by superb pros in sync with her playlist. Moving effortlessly between instruments, her band and the microphone, she makes you laugh, and cry and makes every word of the lyric count. Every genre was in the set from Edith Piaf to Folk, to Jazz, to Pop to Henry Mancini. This lady can sing anything. She is also very funny. Taking the gentle Michael out of her visit that day to Findhorn Arts and running over the allotted concert time she finished with a wonderful rendition of ‘Moon River’ whilst evoking boozy, smoke-ridden family parties. Not quite the thing you associate with conservative Inverness but to a 60’s Londoner it hit the mark. I love this lady. She is on her 40-years tour until the end of the year. Try and catch her if you can!
