Review: Belinda O’Hooley, St George’s – ‘She stopped the whole of St George’s in its tracks’

Do you think that you can see ghosts of the living when they’re not here? Do they send their spirits to us, to stay near when we need them?

This evening should have been an O’Hooley and Tidow show, instead Belinda O’Hooley is up there, alone on the stage. Just her and the lovely St George’s Steinway.

Her wife, Heidi Tidow, is unwell and so, rather than cancel, she opts to play a solo set. We are asked to be “very loud, very warm, very we’ve-got-you” and we are. Oh, my word, we are. It’s not just us though.

If there are living ghosts then Heidi is up there too. So is Flynn, their child. His presence is absolutely stamped across this evening – his handmade cardboard crown sits on the piano – numerous songs are sung for, and about, him. If there’s just one actual body on stage, there are three spirits.

O’Hooley and Tidow last played at St George’s just before lockdown and, they admit, it’s one of their favourite places to play.

Just last year they were part of Bristol Folk Festival and, indeed, this evening marks the last of this year’s Folk Festival shows. They are, normally, raw, passionate tellers of tales, they give voice to the voiceless. This evening things are a tiny bit different.

Whilst some of the new songs prove tricky to sing solo, Worn Out and Full of Wonder, taken from the latest album Cloudheads, starts the evening.

It encapsulates a feeling that is common to all new parents but, surely, it’s a sentiment that can rarely have been delivered with so much devotion.

Perhaps it’s the fact she’s on her own – “I’m missing my wife” – but O’Hooley’s voice is more gentle, more tender, her piano playing exquisite. It’s not strictly Folk but it’s fabulous.

She shows, again and again, a deeply romantic, incredibly caring side to herself. It’s something that, perhaps, sometimes gets a little lost when the two of them are on stage together.

They spend so much time chuckling away but it’s testament to their relationship that, without Tidow, O’Hooley can remind us all about love.

There is certainly an enormous amount of love in the room. By the end of both The Last Polar Bear and Blanket, her voice soars leaving the audience utterly choked up.

The gorgeous melding of piano, sensitive lyrics and a voice full of love is almost too much.

The story of the last days of a small dog and the friendship that he has with his owner- Matthew and Ted – is another tear-jerker. It’s not sad, just unbelievably beautiful.

To compare the support for a dog that is unable to walk to that of their child, who was just learning to walk, is incredibly affecting.

Two songs stand out, for entirely different reasons. A Woman in Space is a true feminist anthem; it is smart and fearless, it’s perfectly articulate and needs to be heard in every single classroom across the world. It needs to be taught to every single child.

She Lived Beside the Anner, on the other hand, is as pure a folk song as you’ll ever hear. Performed entirely unaccompanied, entirely unamplified, O’Hooley stops the whole of St George’s in its tracks.

Goose-pimples, hair standing on end, pin-drop silence, all of this and so, so much more. The applause as she took her seat behind her piano once again, was deafening and lengthy. Pure love lapping against the stage.

Scattered through the set were instrumental moments from her fantastic debut album, Inversions, but it was the final couple of songs that everyone wanted. The Ballad of Anne and Ann was written after the success of Gentleman Jack and, on Cloudheads, features Suranne Jones.

O’Hooley’s version packs a serious emotional punch and leads to the first standing ovation of the evening. The second comes, predictably, after Gentleman Jack, the jaunty theme to the aforementioned TV show.

There’s seat-swaying all over the place, polite stomping and then that massive outpouring of love.

Belinda O’Hooley spreads her arms wide, embraces the whole of the hall and takes a bow. If you look carefully, you’d swear that there were two more people up there, basking in the love too. A very special night.

Main photo: Gavin McNamara

Read next:

• Review: Laura Cortese and Friends, The Folk House – ‘Cortese injects pure sunshine’
• Review: Cub Sport, The Louisiana – ‘A mix of genres combined to create beautiful soundscapes’
• Review: Caitlin Rose, The Fleece – ‘Fantastic pop-tinged country’

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