Yahoo News Margo Price at Islington Assembly Hall, London, gig review: Classic country laments that tug on the heartstrings
Margo Price is clearly relishing the first night of her UK tour – but she's also thinking of momentous events back home.
"The only reason I wish I was there is so I could protest," the rising US country star reassures her London audience, contemplating the inauguration of Donald Trump.
It isn't the only reference to the dramatic power-shift in Washington, as she follows up with "Four Years of Chances", a single from her acclaimed LP Midwest Farmer's Daughter.
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The song is one of defiance against the betrayals of an ex-lover - "I cleaned your shirts and cooked up your supper/But you stayed up late at night" – but is also, on this night, a nod to the length of a much-feared presidential term.
Perhaps, back home, there would have been more dancing than managed by this London crowd, as The Pricetags, her – frighteningly hairy – band provides powerful backing to the more up-tempo tracks.
There's a slight excess of covers, of everyone from Dolly Parton and Merle Haggard to Janis Joplin and Kris Kristofferson.
But there is no doubting the impact of the autobiographical tracks, the night’s undoubted highlights, in particular the heart-wrenching "Hands of Time".
This classic country lament of life’s bitter disappointments - "I want to buy back the farm" - must have tugged every heartstring. It certainly tugged on mine.
