On the road with Boris (3) John Lees' Barclay James Harvest Live at The Lowry

The grand finale of the weekend away that Boris and I had was a gig at Salford's futuristic looking Lowry Centre. Boris and I are both fans of John Lees Barclay James Harvest, whose thoughtful majestic take on British 70s rock encompasses classical, folk, hard-rock and prog elements.

Arriving early we met many other fans of the band, some of whom I have chatted to online, under their various entertaining on-line pseudonyms such as "the umpire's finger", "the poet", "madwoolyfan", and "sparkly flames". Boris surprised a few people who have been BJH fans for three-times the length of his life, with his

astute comments about the relative merits of the bands output; and his hopes for what might be in the evening's set. It was most enjoyable meeting up with all these various characters, and sharing a common enthusiasm. Boris was predictably as high as a kite, not only was this his first gig, but we had second row tickets in a sell-out performance by our favourite band!

On Sunday night, John Lees' Barclay James Harvest delivered a brilliant set of material drawn almost entirely from the bands' classic era. They kicked off with John Lees' passionate anti-war anthem, "For No-One" from 1974 - a song which showcases all the bands trademarks; thoughtful lyrics passionately delivered, layered vocal harmonies, soaring melodic guitar lines all built upon a base of 'Woolly' Wolstenholme's atmospheric Mellotron sounds.

The set included heavier numbers such as Medicine Man, once again played with in the arrangement that made it so popular amongst the bands original fans three decades ago, alongside new arrangements of numbers such as Mockingbird, and classic songs like Child of the Universe. On the more delicate side of the repertoire John's sublime Galadriel was featured as was Woolly's The Poet - as ever the prelude to the show-stopping After the Day. For an encore the band played the epic "She Said", and closed the Easter Sunday show with one of their most Christian influenced songs, the anthemic Hymn; a brilliant singalong to end a brilliant evening.

But there was more... as the crowd was filing out of the auditorium into the bar area, the band came up to say goodnight to everyone leaving. Young Boris was chuffed to be able to sit down and have a blether to the ever affable Woolly Wolstenholme. He told John Lees he'd just got his first guitar and asked him how often he practiced when he was learning. John advised him to play for at least an hour; and had a chat with him about the pain, scabs and trials of the aspiring musician. Young Boris left the place with a huge grin, and an autographed programme.

We had a brilliant evening together - a wonderful conclusion to our weekend away.

Full set-list, photos and fans reviews are on the band's website here: http://www.barclayjamesharvest.com/lowry3.htm