The Young’uns have become heroes of the English folk scene by returning to basics, but in bravely contemporary style. Sean Cooney, David Eagle and Michael Hughes ambled on stage as if they were back at the Stockton-on-Tees folk club, where they acquired what they called “the worst name in folk music” 14 years ago. Now they launched into a gutsy a cappella treatment of Cable Street, a new song by Cooney telling the true story of a 16-year-old Stockton boy who helped in blocking a fascist rally in London’s East End in 1936. The audience welcomed them as if they were pop superstars.
In an era of folk big bands and virtuoso instrumentalists, they have succeeded by providing a reminder of the power of unaccompanied harmony singing. And they are helped by Cooney’s skill in treating today’s bleak issues by telling true stories of individual triumph. Eight of his defiant but heartwarming songs from their new album Strangers were performed here.
Carriage 12 dealt with the attempted terrorist attack on a train bound for Paris two years ago that was foiled by the bravery of American, French and English passengers, and was a rousing and timely lesson on the importance of international cooperation. The refugee crisis was tackled through Ghafoor’s Bus, which celebrates a Teessider who feeds refugees in Europe, and the haunting Dark Water, another powerful true story of a Syrian who swam to freedom across the Aegean. For both those songs they were backed a choir of the Aldeburgh Young Musicians, whose voices were at times sadly inaudible. For the pained and poignant Be the Man, a story of homophobia and suicide, Cooney took the lead while Eagle and Hughes played piano and guitar.
The Young’uns were bravely emotional but also very funny, thanks to the constant banter from Eagle. Here he was allowed one solo. A piano-backed reworking of George Formby’s When I’m Cleaning Windows became a comic tour de force about computer problems and online porn and included the inspired line: “What I do is not PC, when I’m using Windows.”
They ended with yet another true story, of a homesick Hartlepool trawlerman, and a rousing encore of John Ball, Sydney Carter’s story of the peasants’ revolt. It was a triumphant set, but too short. Did they really need to break for an interval after a mere six songs?
- Playing at Ropetackle Arts Centre, Shoreham, on Friday (Box office: 01273-464 440), and Drill Hall, Lincoln, on Saturday (Box office: 01522-873 894). Then touring until 22 October.
