Oxjam takeover hits the town

The Matthew Adam Band perform in the Lerwick Boating Club. Photo: Dave Donaldson.

Music lovers enjoyed a bumper bill of top local talent as the Oxjam takeover returned.

Three venues in Lerwick paid host to singer-songwriters, blues, rock, soul and metal – as the boating club, Posers and the legion opened their doors and folk helped to raise money for global charity Oxfam.

In the lead up to the event, Ashlea Tulloch, one of the organisers, said since the first Oxjam event back in the legion in 2011, which raised £1,200 in a night, Shetland has raised more than £12,000.

“The first takeover in 2012 raised £7,300 and the second in 2013 raised £4,115.21 – these were the highest totals in the whole of Scotland both years,” she said.

“Actually, if you added up all the Scottish takeovers’ totals on the mainland together, our little island still raised more.”

William McCover took the first spot at Posers with some impressive guitar instrumentals and finger-style guitar skills.

By five o’clock folk were watching on from the doorway of the Lerwick Boating Club, with the venue pinned.

The catchy, clever songs and delicious harmonies of Trookers were lapped up by the audience – from tots to teenagers, and those a little older.

And with the addition of Chris Cope on bass and and Erik Peterson behind the drums, Demon took on a new sound – richer, fuller and with extra punch. Hopefully many more outings as a four-piece will follow.

Arthur Nicholson delivered a stellar set of self-penned numbers, combining strong vocals with his rich and melodic guitar style.

And to round off the boating club menu, a tasty take of OutKast’s Hey Ya (complete with fiddle and audience participation) was dished up by The Matthew Adam Band.

Their imaginative renditions went down a treat – from Kings of Leon’s Cold Desert,with a folk twist, to four-part harmonies in Fleet Foxes’ Mykonos.

With a bit of dinner for refuelling and a waterproof for bearing the downpour, it was on to the legion.

Revellers hit the dancefloor to the rasping brass of The Bluemelts with their own blend of soul and blues getting bums off seats and gig-goers boogying along.

Three-piece The Dirty Lemons continued the trend with folk up on their feet singing and dancing to the high-energy rock/punk setlist – including a belting rendition of The Middle by Jimmy Eat World and a medley including The Dandy Warhol’s Bohemian Like You .

Drummer John William Halcrow was clearly enjoying himself, hammering away at the kit and belting out harmonies to the vein-bulging, rip-roaring rock songs led by Anthony Peart on guitar and vocals and Craig Watt on vocals and bass.

Led Zetland opened with Immigrant Song with powerful frontman Martin Naylor, before guitarist Robbie Walterson launched into a blistering guitar solo.

Chris Thomson joined on keys and by the time the band played the mammoth Kashmir folk were head-banging away in appreciation.

For those still going, it was off to dance the night away at the after party in Baroc.

A fantastic day of music for a fantastic cause.