Bellowhead - Live at the Brook

Nothing could prepare you for an evening five feet away from the astounding Bellowhead "wall of Sound". From the first clatter of the cutlery in a tin on top of the cymbals, you know that this is a different kind of concert. With cello, violin, bagpipes, oboe, mandolin, trumpet, saxophone, drums, squeezebox and tuba, this is a folk band like no other.

Bellowhead somehow manages to combine English and European folk styles with the big band sound - name another folk band with a brass section.

Jon Boden acts as the lynchpin of this gang of disciplined madness. He has the demeanour of a crazed grand vizier of folk, gazing into the middle distance with a dangerous gleam. Aside from fiddle, tabor pipe, and (I think) kazoo, Boden also plays a tiny pink plastic tambourine with particular skill.

There is no question that Bellowhead is one of the best live bands, in any genre. As just one example of their stagecraft, there was a moment in the evening where all of the strings managed to migrate to a corner of the stage to - momentarily - produce an ironic tableau of a string quartet.

A fine evening, in a unique location.