#thievingmagpies

[thievingmagpiesband]

A very different cover version of this song!!!!! at the Globe Ulverston.

[thievingmagpiesband]

“Well I proper enjoyed that... Ta!!” (my reaction to watching Paul Harrison and Robbie Jay Coplen play separate acoustic sets to celebrate the 4th Birthday of their band the Thieving Magpies)   -You don’t need us to tell you that 2020 has been a weird year. With gigs as we know them unable to take place, most artists have successfully pivoted online to craft community and connection with livestreams of all shapes, sizes and successes.

However, you would imagine that full band and rock music  would not have been able to embrace this new normal so easily. The genre really doesn’t lend itself to stripped back acoustic sessions and played at full throttle, as it ought to be, most bands would blow-out any sort of home studio setup. It’s why bedroom rock has never really been a thing. Technical issues aside, heavy music is at its best when it feels physical, like that rumble in your gut when the bass kicks in or when an inadvertent flying elbow in the pit connects. Watching it through a screen or from a safe distance turns that experience into one of detachment – and hasn’t this year been isolating enough? However I recently heard two members of the band Thieving Magpies playing acoustic versions of some great songs. Paul Harrison and Robbie Jay Coplen appeared separately  from their homes - The first half Paul delivered some classic renditions of songs like Blackbird by the Beatles and I’m on Fire by Springsteen interspersed with some classic Magpie covers like Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis and Ain’t No Sunshine by Bill Withers - In the second half Robbie presented us with Paolo Nutini’s “New Shoes”, Dr Feelgood’s “Roxette” and Dire Strait’s “Romeo and Juliet” - Michelle O’Donnelly  (County Durham) December 2020