It was one of those gigs where only half of the people on stage had their names on the poster, one of the advertised line-up was busy mountaineering and only 1 of the 4 on stage used the furniture for its originally intended purpose.  In almost any other arena of performance, this apparently overt level of disorganization would have you eying the exits, but in the world of folk - it is practically a pre-requiset.

Though it was barely referred to, I devised from hearsay that Pat "the hat" Duncan's no-show was on account of a hitherto unforeseen mountaineering duty.  Possibly a blessing in disguise though, as his last minute replacements - Corrinn & Nicola Strating from Melbourne, Australia - made up (if only briefly) one of the finest 4-piece ensembles to appear beneath Paddy's legendary "Wee Folk Club" spotlights.

The Strating sisters' vocal harmonies combine with a perfection that can surely only be achieved by identical twins, making even the most humdrum of melodies resound with significance.  As far as I'm aware this would have been the only chance to see them in a concert environment during the festival, and the unexpected nature of their appearance represents (to me) much of what the fringe should be about.

Niall Kenny has the slightly familiar aura of the accomplished instrumentalist - ie, a bit less aware of the presence of an audience whilst casting a relatively suspicious eye over proceedings.  His instrumental sets (as well as occasional songs) were impeccably performed, and his ever-so-slightly dry portrayal of his fellow musicians added a certain dynamic to the proceedings which I would struggle to describe - but suffice to say, the evening's atmosphere benefited from it.

Chick McAuley is a man whom you could lazily opt to refer to as a "character", and whilst such a description is accurate - it would be doing him a disservice not to elaborate.  Alas though, I only know a couple of anecdotes about the man, and I don't think he'd thank me for printing them here.  Whilst Chick doesn't push himself to the fore musically, it would be entirely fair to say that his accompaniment is the glue that holds proceedings together - McAuley is one of the most underrated traditional accompanists I've ever had the pleasure of listening to.

All in all this was a great show - and whilst it could have perhaps done with a few more numbers from the "sensational Strating sisters", the charmingly disheveled nature of the evening only served to bond audience and musician harmoniously (and without once hearing those dreaded words uttered - "please sing along").