Foot-stomping folk with Mercury Prize nominee Seth Lakeman

Newbury Spring Festival: Seth Lakeman

at the Corn Exchange

on Friday, May 23

Review by AMANDA HOLLIDAY

A packed Corn Exchange welcomed Mercury Prize nominee Seth Lakeman on Friday night. The multi-instrumentalist accompanied by Benji Kirkpatrick and Alex Hart, made up The Seth Lakeman Trio.

Their set included songs old and new, from foot-stomping sea shanties to plaintive ballads.

Devon-born Lakeman’s songs are strongly connected through history to the moors and the sea and we heard plenty of evidence of that throughout the evening.

The gig kicked off with The Giant, about the rescue attempt of a stranded pilot whale off the Cornish coast. It was filled with impressive vocal harmonies as well as the sounds of an Irish bouzouki.

The following two songs were inspired by the myths and legends of Dartmoor: Alex’s harmonium drones were used to good effect on the eerily atmospheric The Bold Knight; and we were introduced to the intricate banjo playing of Benji on The White Hare.

Recognition of the history and hardships of miners’ lives brought us the anguished Underground, bearing the strained sounds of a mouth organ echoing man’s struggle for survival.

We were then treated to two of the songs from Lakeman’s 2025 album The Granite Way: The climactic and powerful Black Fox tells the story of the chase and the animal’s ultimate escape.

The haunting Roll Back the Years transports us to Mounts Bay in Penzance, where a woman reflects upon the loss of a loved one at sea.

After the break came two emotional performances: Solomon Browne, Lakeman’s touching yet energising tribute to the eight courageous Mousehole men who lost their lives in the Penlee lifeboat disaster.

The songwriter’s poignant solo performance of Portrait of my Wife was the song of the night. The audience sang along and couldn’t fail to be moved.

Lakeman’s boundless energy is contagious and by the end of the night the whole house was jumping to the frenzied strains of Kitty Jay.

This was an evening of wonderful musicianship and songwriting based on a sense of belonging.

You can take the man out of the South West, but you can’t take the South West out of the man.