Contemporary pipes bring down The Arches By Stephen McKenna

Piping Live 2006 arrived at The Arches in Glasgow on Friday for a Contemporary Piping Evening with At First Light and headliners The Findlay MacDonald Band.

At First Light is fronted by gifted uillean piper John McSherry who along with exceptional young fiddle player Donal O'Conner, Francis McIlduff (uillean pipes, whistles and bodhran), Alan Burke (guitar and vocals) and Rubén Bada (bouzouki, guitar and fiddle), captivated a near sell out crowd.

The mixture of young and old in The Arches was a real hint at the popularity and appeal of the Piping Live Festival.

The raked seating at the back of the venue was full when we arrived and the crowd standing in front of the stage grew as the night went on.

At First Light are a seductively-energetic act that can encourage the shyest of music fans to take to the dance floor!

The sound in The Arches was excellent - I could hear every instrument clearly. The uillean pipes and fiddle worked together brilliantly along with the added dynamics of the acoustic guitar, bodhran and bouzouki.

At First Light got the crowd very excited and ended their set with a couple of jigs before bowing out to let The Findlay MacDonald Band take centre stage.

After a fifteen minute stage reshuffle, Findlay MacDonald and his band came on and were greeted with excited cheers from the crowd.

The addition of Fergus MacKenzie on drums and Quee MacArthur on bass gives the Findlay MacDonald band the contemporary edge. The standard of musicianship was nothing short of staggering - I didn't hear a bum note all night.

The set was filled with varied material ranging from slow ballads to jazz-funk-rock anthems.

Chris Stout displayed some incredibly fast-paced fiddle playing - breaking several strings from his bow in the process.

Towards the end of the night they had a jazz moment where each band member had a chance to play a solo - followed by ecstatic 'whooping' and cheering from the eager crowd!

Piping Live has built upon the success of previous years and Friday night's Contemporary Piping Event proved to be the most popular on the week's listings.

Click here for actual review in icScotland.co.uk>>