Christchurch Folk Music Club

22nd April 2018

A night where the music soared with eagles wafted on the up draughts of some great music generated by a flock of Ferris family and or Ferris family friends. The evening promised and delivered a show with lots of variety, colour, vocal harmonies, intermingled with a smattering of vaudeville and pure musical delight. The night opening hailing in the sun, with that classic beat from the Beatles led naturally into an Eagles medley.

The opening trio of Jen and Robin Ferris and Greg Mooney were a melody of sound, with the extraordinary voice of Greg soaring harmonies above the alto vocals of Jen. I had to concentrate to distinguish who was generating the harmony. It was also great to see Jen encourage Greg’s singing, heart-warming to see talent being appreciated acknowledged within the group on stage.

The eight artists that graced the stage interchanged combinations which added interest to the night, the weaving added layers of intrigue as the plan that Robin put together unfolded to reveal talent after talent. “Something Else”, Jen and Rob gave us a memorable ‘Rocket Man’, Ryan and Shanalee, with an what seemed effortless was in fact years of training caressed our ears with tenderness; Jen and Jodie, mother and daughter, made Jodie’s first stage performance with the classic sing along Jolene a crowd favourite; ‘The Ferris Blarney Band” with acoustic guitar finger work by Tony Hale concluded the first half with well picked and loved Irish tunes, and a poem from Rob that showed his eloquence. The second half opened with some madness courtesy of ‘Monty Python’ as four Yorkshire men tried to out manoeuvre each other with their storyline.

This was continued later in the set as Robin ably led the humour of ‘The Lumberjack Song’. There were classics to fondly recall the past ‘Homeward Bound’ and ‘Blackbird’ stood out. We were treated to a range of solo performances by five of the leads vocalists. Lorenz was a stand out on his solo where he had the violin generating sounds like a full band, the sledge of the guitars, the bass and percussion of the drums and the overtone of screech to emanate the screaming vocals of ‘Sweet Child of Mine’, his immeasurable talent got a well-deserved standing ovation.

The night grand finale was the wish to send us safely on the journey as we turned and went home under the light of the Southern stars, fittingly able to recall the words of the song.

By Judi Smitheram, Secretary