Guest : Ben Sands

5 March 2004

I liked Ben Sands; he came on stage and entertained us. He was good at all the things we expect from a Folk Club guest.

He was a skilled instrumentalist, in this case guitar and mandolin, and like many Irish people he had a soft lilt which he used well to tell jokes and sing.

The majority of the songs he sang were his own composition and many had

choruses which were taken up by the club members, though it’s interesting that the best reaction he got was from the old folk club standard Whistling Gypsy Rover. He milked it well, getting the women to sing it, and the men to whistle.

At the end of the night the audience left smiling and that doesn’t happen by chance, the performer has to work at it, and Ben did

Guest review by : Joe Phillips.