THE Bermuda Folk Club didn’t miss a beat when it kicked off the New Year with an impressive array of talent to grace the stage last Saturday night.Organiser and Folk Club crooner John Bohan was the opening performer and treated the audience to his rendition of the Irish folk tune Right Arm. This was followed by another Irish tune, which has been hailed as the workers anthem Ordinary Man which told of rampant unemployment in Ireland some 25 years ago. Bohan, known for his coverage of U2 tunes, did not disappoint as he performed a cover tune and wound up his set with a classic soft rock tune.

Girl power was well represented as local recording artist Val Wallace opened her set with the Gordon Lightfoot classic Early Morning Rain and quickly followed up with her original tune entitled>The American Dream<$>. The crowd was definitely into Wallace’s performance and needed little encouragement to get into the act as she rounded up her performance with Last Thing On My Mi$>.

When Mike Cacy took to the stage the audience knew they were in for an impressive performance bar none! Opening with a James Taylor tune, Cacy was more than ready to deliver the goods to an audience that seemed to not get enough of ‘The Great and Wonderful One’. Not to be outdone by the previous entertainer, Cacy also performed an original song about a lady whose vice in life was gambling. This followed up another Cacy original about Bermuda. Usually the song is performed with another guitarist but Mike did a fine job of performing the song during the ‘Cacy unplugged’ session. He finished off his set with Ode to Sea and for his encore song he finished w Dead of Winter. Unlike the title of the song Cacy did not leave the audience cold with his performance.

The next performer was also a Folk Club favourite, and the ‘Scottish Sensation’ Scott Neil wasted no time in keeping the mood upbeat by launching in to the first tune entitled Live Forr<$>. Those who had never attended one of Neil’s performance were in for a treat as he thrilled the audience with an original composition entitled Aquamne<$>. His next song, a Bob Dylan classic Knocking on Heaven’s Door, needed no introduction, as the crowd gave their whistles and cheers of approval during this segment of the show. Due to the number of performers slated for the evening many of the musicians shortened their segments and Neil decided to raise the bar as he finished his set with the 1997ng Hanging Around by the Stranglers.

Todd White, a relative newcomer to the Folk Club, was no slouch as he worked his way through a somewhat short but entertaining set. He connected with the audience with the ease of a seasoned veteran and was technically sound and his stint on state was well worth the wait!

Benn Nunn pulled off the balancing act of the evening with both quality and quantity as he played segments from several songs and seamlessly merged them together into one tune. The more mature attendees recognised the opening snippet of Chet Atkins’ Freightain <$>as Nunn, aka Ben Jammin’ covered at least three decades worth of material within a 25 minute time span, including the cult classic Cocaine. Unlike the song’s namesake the evening was chock-full of ear candy as Nunn cased his set with an original piecelled Double Edge.

The duo of Rob Lansing and Michelle Robinson made a fine showing of themselves. The ex-guitarist for the Dickies, and now the lead guitarist for Last Rights, showed his vocal prowess as he crooned alongside Robinson, who is the daughter to one of Bermuda’s finest guitarists, Milt Robinson. The duo opened with Aqua Beber and followed with Cry Me A River, Like A Lover and Wild Ahe Wind<$>. Michelle is a consummate musician as an accomplished flutist but the bilingual vocalist opted to show that she could sing with the best of them!

The duo of Mike MacPhee and Toby Colomb kicked off their set with Time er Time <$>before performing Rob Thomas’ 3am. In a moment of confusion Toby turned to the crowd and said: “This is the first time we have played this Folsum Prison Blues song together.” Mike MacPhee hails from Nova Scotia, Canada and has been described as a guitar wizard. To say he is very good is an understatement. Since moving to the island two-and-a-half years ago he has been playing guitar at the Folk Club ever since. He has played at the Folk Club with such greats as Sharon Murphy, and Ed Flynn, both of whom have since left the island. He and his roommates have hosted the famous Tatemfest each of the last two years, which is a live outdoor musical extravaganza. Their closing number was a MacPheriginal, Walk In the Woods With Me <$>which was a pretty decent song, the type that grows on you the more you listen to it.

The duo of Andrew and Jennifer Perry were equally entertaining and their singing styles complemented each other, which is no easy feat for amateur performers. Towards the end of their performance they were joined on stage by Ben Jamin’ for an encore song before the final act brought the evening’s entertainment to a close — the quartet of Mike MacPhee, Andrew and Jennifer Perry and Ilana Dean, with the latter finding herself pressed into service as the lead vocalist. Their impromptu performance covered a few cover tunes, but the audience wasn’t satiated until Dean perforZombie<$>.

With more than three hours of solid entertainment Val Wallace gave an encore performance and performed her own tune entitled For So Long.

If anyone is interested in performing at the Bermuda Folk Club, please e-mail your information to info@folkclub.bm., and you will be added you to their list of performers whom they will contact prior to upcoming Club Nights.