Jackie Bristow & Barry Saunders
7th December 2023
Elsthorpe Community Hall, Elsthorpe, New Zealand.
Review by Rob Harbers, photography by Andrew Caldwell.
In a nicely circular way, one of the stars of the very first run of Small Hall Sessions, Barry Saunders, has returned to the Bay two and a half years later, for the final run of 2023. Last time it was in the company of Delaney Davidson, in this trio of appearances his travelling companion is Jackie Bristow, fresh from touring North America in support of Boz Scaggs. Together they brought the joy to the hamlet of Elsthorpe – a place where even Barry, with all his miles under the belt, hadn’t ever been before!
The evening commenced with a couple of songs from Barry on his own, including one inspired by a long-distance relationship inspired by art appreciation (or so he says…). He then invited Jackie to the stage to help out with a wee number, written for a boy band, called “Hands Of My Heart” – quite a catchy ditty, it must be said, and one that could do well, should it reach the right ears!
Having established her place on the stage, Jackie then shared some of her songs, beginning with “Whistle Blowin’”, with its plaintive atmosphere enhanced by Barry’s harmonica. This progressed through to her ode to the futility of war, a setting to music of an anonymous soldier’s poem found in the Gore library.
The next few songs saw a degree of interspersal between the two players, Barry’s “Right Time” (a song he admitted he ‘doesn’t know what it’s about’!) leading in to a new song from Jackie, before Barry sharing his attempt at writing a song in the vein of his favourite “Walk Away Renee”, the National Radio frequent flyer “Rescue Me”.
The first half of the set concluded with the jointly-released number “Good Miles”, a road song for which a video has even been created – the duo stepping fully in to Pop Star mode! This has a nice call-back to Jackie’s “Outsider”, in its line ‘It’s no sin to be on the outside looking in’ – a bit of circularity for the fans.
The second half kicked off with a rendition of “Ring Of Fire”, played in its original vein as per June Carter Cash, ‘before her husband took it over’. This was a tribute to June, who Barry met while touring in support of The Highwaymen, way back in the day.
Jackie’s “Tennessee” led in to another new song from her, “Take it to the Train” (title not yet fully decided on, it’s so new!) – with it’s driving beat fitting the lyrics. An audience request saw Barry’s seasoned favourite “Maureen” receiving a level of appreciation from Elsthorpe that’s not matched by his own family (it’s known by them as “Chlorine”, such is their over-familiarity!)
At the conclusion of the regular set, Barry hadn’t even made it off the stage before the call for an encore became loud enough for him to respond, the payoff being in the form of a couple of covers, firstly a tribute to the sadly departed Shane McGowan (“Wild Rover”) and then, somewhat surprisingly perhaps, the song they’ve been singing in the tour van together, Bonnie Tyler’s “It’s a Heartache”!
The night then capped off, its stars then mingled with their appreciative audience, signing merch for the new fans they’d gained from the performance. A truly enjoyable night of entertainment, and a great way to cap off another successful year of Small Halls!
Two more nights to catch them before they get away – tonight in Raukawa and Saturday in Haumoana – be there or be square!
Were you there at the Elsthorpe Community Hall for this intimate gig? Or have you seen Jackie Bristow or Barry Saunders perform live sometime else? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
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