Fisherman’s Friends / Minack Theatre / Porthcurno

It’s been barely two weeks since we headed into Nottingham to see the Fisherman’s Friends perform to a sold out Royal Concert Hall crowd, as they delivered a stunning show of two sets packed with hits. (check out our review HERE.

Well, once is never enough eh ? After nearly 30 years ago, this group of friends still perform for free on the Platt (harbour) in their home town of Port Isaac, and also at Cornwall’s iconic Minack Theatre. Well, would you Adam & Eve it…. They just so happened to be performing four shows at the Minack in the run up to the bank holiday weekend.

Always up for an adventure, we packed up our gear and headed down. This was a spectacle, we didn’t want to miss ! Hotel in Penzance booked, and car fuelled and off we set.

Arriving at the Minack and parking up it’s a strange experience. Just 4 miles from Lands End, you can’t get much more remote thank this. Surely there can’t be a theatre here ? You walk to a hut and queue up for ‘doors’ to open. All you can see is the hut, a stone wall, the cliffs and the sea below… where’s the theatre ?

As we wander in, suddenly the full beauty of the venue becomes apparent. The Minack looks like it has been there for centuries, but amazingly is amazingly less than a hundred years old, but in the early 1930’s by the incredible Rowena Cade, she bought the land for £100 and was inspired to transform a Cornish cliff-face into an open-air arena. Originally performing in her cliff garden, along with her friends much of the theatre was literally built with their bare hands for the love of live theatre.

The Minack (a rocky place in Cornish ‘meynek’) now has over 250,000 visitors a year and holds over 200 shows, theatrical and musical.

And it’s into this incredible outdoor setting that the Fisherman’s Friends walk, to roars and cheers from the sold out crowd, sitting on their blankets on the stone or grass seats.

Tonight Bill and Lefty were missing from the line up as Jon Cleave (a Shop owner & author), Jason Nicholas and Jeremy Brown (Fishermen), John McDonnell (a Builder), Toby Lobb (a TV & Film Producer) and their latest members, Marcus Bonfanti (a Singer & Songwriter) and Simon Johnson (musician) took up their places.

The set is very similar to the one we heard in Nottingham a couple of weeks ago (as its part of the same tour) and they opened with the ever popular Jon Kanaka which has the audience clapping along.

The set is a great mix, of the light hearted fun stuff such as Being a Pirate (how you can’t be a real pirate with all your body parts intact !) Billy O’Shea (the unfortunate who got drunk and press-ganged in to service at sea, and comes to an unfortunate end), and the classic Drunken Sailor that as always have the crowd laughing clapping and singing along, and generates some great banter with the crowd.

Then there’s the classic songs of the sea, such as Deep Blue Swell, Round the Corner Sally (a song about the arduous journey to round Cape Horn), Pay Me My Money Down and Sam’s Gone Away.

There’s moving and darker moments too with songs like Golden Vanity (re-written by Toby so everyone dies by the end lol), Sweet Maid of Madeira (about Cornish Wreckers), and the hauntingly beautiful God Moves on the Water.

I wondered beforehand what they would sound like outdoors, I needn’t have worried. The sound system at the Minack is incredible, and crystal clear, and as the music subsides and pauses between songs, you become aware of the subtle sound of the waves crashing against the rocks at the foot of the cliff and the guls. And other than that…. There is only silence, no cars, no talking, just silence. It adds to the performance in so many ways, making the vocals clearer and adding a clarity, a purity to the experience. A group of incredibly talented singers, made even more special by their surroundings.

The whole experience is sensational, but there a couple of songs that in particular I thought were incredible.

First up, half way through the set, we get Cornwall My Home, written by Harry Glasson, and the second anthem of Cornwall. The song is truly beautiful sung well anywhere, but here… outdoors at the Minack, with the stunningly beautiful Cornish Coastal scenery all round us ? It’s simply breathtaking ! You can’t help but feel a lump in your throat as its sung with heartfelt passion for their homeland, and as it draws to a close the audience as one clap and cheer !

Then, as the main set draws to a close, they end on their biggest hit No Hopers, Jokers and Rogues a rousing singalong anthem, a calling to the worker, the downtrodden to rise up, down tools and to enjoy life, to be free ! A rousing chorus that everyone sings with gusto “Come all you no hopers, you jokers and rogues. We're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes. It might be a ladder to the stars, who knows? Come all you no hopers, you jokers and rogues”.

Of course, they couldn’t just leave…. Not like that. No walking off waiting for the calls for more, they offer us one more, but turns into three, with starting with New York Girls, which leads into the fun light-hearted Drunken Sailor which everyone sings and claps along to, before ending on yet another classic Fisherman’s Friends tune, South Australia a song sung on the long journey round the Cape of Good Hope to Australia, remembering life back home and the girls they miss, as well as the girls they'll meet on their travels around the world, while the chorus of ‘heave away, haul away’ is sung while working the heavy ropes and timbers. Perhaps my favourite Fisherman’s Friend song, and one where Cleavies amazing deep baritone voice comes to the fore (one I can sing along to as well !)

The crowd rise as one, everyone united in their praise, with a hearty round of applause as the Fisherman’s Friends smile and wave and salute their audience.

A couple of my absolute favourites were missing such as Wellerman and Bonny Ship the Diamond but who cares, when you experience something so special ?

An amazing band, and a performance in one of the most iconic, beautiful and moving venues there is. For me, this was a crazy, rash, spontaneous decision – a 700 mile, 15 hour round trip journey in 24 hours…. And it was SO worth it. Worth every single mile, bump in the road and traffic jam…. And I’d do it all again tomorrow….. gladly.

The Fisherman’s Friends are an incredible live experience, and watch out for more shows coming up soon. If you get the chance to, grab a show at the Minack, you won’t be disappointed.

And check out the Minack’s website for other artists, such as Lanterns on the Lake, Dry Cleaning, Daisy Rickman and Rioghnach Connolly and Honeyfeet all performing there this summer.

Setlist

John Kanaka

Sweet Ladies of Plymouth

Lukey’s Boat

Golden Vanity

Sweet Maid of Madeira

Deep Blue Swell

Sitting on the River By The Levee

Billy O’Shea

Cornwall My Home

Jolly Roving Tar

God Moves on the Water