³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

As I said in my last blog, if you stand close enough to real talent a little bit rubs off on you - like pollen.

Such talent: Kate Rusby, Karine Polwart, Chris While, Julie Matthews, John McCusker, Andy Cutting, Barry Coope, Andy Seward, Bob Fox, Jez Lowe and the Clyde poet Brian Whittingham.

We had six shows and over sixty songs to draw from, deciding to make a selection from the first five in Act One and by way of a homage to our host city Glasgow dedicate Act Two to the Ballad of the Big Ships.

With little time to rehearse, a script was prepared in paper and audio form.Ìý The show would be closer in some ways to the original Radio Ballads of fifty years earlier with life-tellers stories spun in against live music and song.Ìý That was our approach - except we added in upwards of 200 images and lyrics projected on a massive screen behind the band. Given that all the songs were being performed for the first time in front of an audience, hitting narrative cues the while against a moving backdrop of images, there was a worry we could be spinning one too many plates.

What could possibly go wrong?

On the night, nothing did go wrong and I'm sure all those on the bandstand would agree a good deal of the concert's success was down to the technical team, particularly Bryan Ledgard's amazing gallery of images, Joe Rusby's glorious sound, Max Leonard's spinning and weaving of the narrative links, Kellie While's reassuring stage management and Vince Hunt and John Leonard's quiet determination.

In a long career, particularly on stage, the commitment and concentration made on this performance remains unmatched.Ìý We had talked about perhaps touring the show and had it not gone so well I would have considered it.Ìý Repeating the process would have lost some if it's unique adrenalin, moreover, we would be able to compare two shows.Ìý I personally wanted us to retain that special moment as a one- off for cast, crew and audience alike, not forgetting the life-tellers who were after all our inspiration.

Never was there a more generous standing ovation and never more deserved.

.