Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Intimacy can sometimes come as a bit of a surprise when attending a concert, it can be a little daunting to see the performer’s eyes so close up, to be sat within a few feet of the fingers dancing on the strings and catching the reflected light from the stage all around you as if watching a shadow play; it is to be thought of daunting but one surely dispelled quickly and instead thought of as a privilege instead.

Michelle Shocked’s residency at the New Town Theatre for the whole of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is one to be congratulated, applauded with great appreciation by all who get to see her, for how many musicians take the trouble to present their albums in a stripped down way to an audience that sits within a few feet of their chosen deliverer of muses. This was not a gig where the clear boundary, the line in the sand between artist and crowd was marked out as if stumbling upon some old relic of the Iron Curtain era, this was immersive, a gig where the audience was as much part of the experience as the musician.

With all comfortably sat on the stage surrounding Michelle Shocked, her own back to a very physical as well as metaphysical wall, the intimacy was one of intrigue, the breaking down of barriers and the joy in being able to watch other’s true and real happiness as they closed their eyes and sang gently underneath their breaths.

Michelle Shocked’s residency takes in three albums presented on alternative nights; if you are fortunate enough to see all three during the course of the visit then it is to be thought of as a absolute win, a treasure to behold of the whole 2016 Fringe. For those with only one night to spare, which ever set you choose, you still come away from the New Town Theatre having felt blessed to witness such musical confidence in the new found relationship struck up on stage.

To choose which one of the three nights in which to hold in the palm of your hands might be the best to attend is to not realise that it doesn’t matter, for each album on offer has its own beautiful distinctive memory attached to it. However as the sound of Arkansas Traveller plays out, as the sound of attached fiddle supplied by one of the staff from the New Town Theatre eerily catches the ear, memories of 1992, a year of hope for many, cannot be helped but eased out and revelled in.

In songs such as 33 RPM Soul, Shaking Hands (Soldier’s Joy), Strawberry Jam and Prodigal Daughter, the evening was set, the mood enhanced and the smile on the select crowd’s faces worth more than gold.

A fantastic idea, a great night, Michelle Shocked takes the audience on a journey of rediscovery.

Ian D. Hall