The Proclaimers Live

A while ago my cousin Glenys asked me if I fancied going to see The Proclaimers. I'm not a massive fan of theirs, but I have this thing now that if anyone asks me to do something and I can afford it and don't hate the thought of it I'll do it, so I said yes. Last night I went to the concert here in my home city.

The Proclaimers must be one of the strangest bands around, twin brothers with short, neat hair and geeky glasses, they sing in a Scottish accent instead of the usual mid-Atlantic drawl. They are not cool, but they are unique and certainly do have staying power. It is over twenty years since they had their hit records in the UK, though there has been a bit of a re-surgence in their popularity since "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" was re-recorded with various famous people as part of Comic Releif in 2007 and released as a charity single.

The venue was full with young and old, after the gi-normous U2 set-up it felt strange to see a small gig like this. The Proclaimers' music is very Scottish, rousing, singalong, contemplative, the lyrics being of more substance than many people realise, moving personal words, biting political ones and all inbetween. A lot of their songs are well observed tableaux of ordinary life and I think this is one of the things that appeals to people, the Reid twins even look very ordinary, people can relate to them and their music.

The crowd had a whale of a time, it was all standing so there was a lot of dancing - I've never seen so many men bopping in my life, I think the beer they were consuming was part of it! But it was fun and there was a party atmosphere. Carlisle is on the border with Scotland so we are as much Scottish as English! The well known songs, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), "Letter From America" (about the clearances in the Highlands and subsequent emigration of many people) and "I'm On My Way" went down really well. But the other songs they played were well received too. Throughout, the singing was impeccable, with fabulous harmonies.

So, all in all a good night, the "ordinary" guys who are truly unique entertained us well - and ever since I've been singing:

"And I would walk 500 my-els

And then would walk 500 mo-or

Just to be the man who walks a thousand my-els

To fall doon at your do-wa

Da da da (da da da)

Da da da (da da da)........."

God it's a catchy tune!