Tales from the Road – A chat with Jesus

This year I’ve got more concerts than ever before, and I thought it would be fun to bring a few tales from the road onto my blog.

This weekend just past I performed at the Pagan Federation Belenus festival in Brighton – the first Pagan conference in Sussex since 2000. It was split over two venues that were each about 3 minutes walk apart, a pub, and the Unitarian Church. Now even before the event began I wondered which venue would be favoured by the Pagans. Traditionally a pub would come before a church…

For an acoustic performance you cannot beat a church. It’s natural reverb adds an incredible depth to the overall sound, and if it is quiet, it can pick up the most subtle inflection of voice and instrument – like playing through the most expensive PA system, yet completely natural. No wonder they were built in this way so that Christians could honour their God with voice and music.

Although the overall attendance at the event was low, the concert was great fun.

There was one point when I began my introduction of the song Green and Grey when I became aware of one of the stained-glass windows. There he was, Jesus, looking down at me as he cared for the suffering children. If you’ve read my blog before you’ll know that I have no problem with the Christian faith at all. I have a deep respect for the ancient Celtic church of Columcille, of Palagius, of those that seeked the message of peace behind the words of this figure who had caught my eye. So I offered him a respectful bow, and told him that this song is not an anti-Christian song, but a song that tells my Truth, reflecting how I feel some of his followers demonised my God, and that this tale also had to be told.

I’m pretty sure he understood.

3 responses to “Tales from the Road – A chat with Jesus”

  1. Nice comment Damh. It’s been a long road for me to stop seeking a fight with Christianity and it ain’t over yet, but it’s the religion not the fellow himself… Love Green and Grey. Took me a couple of listens for it to properly settle into my spirit but now I can’t help singing along, top of my (wobbly) voice! Hugs and blessings. /| bish

  2. For what I thought might be quite a controversial topic, I’ve had nothing but positive responses to this blog Bish. I also post onto my myspace blog, and the comments there have been lovely.

  3. Hi Damh! I missed your performance at Belinus, but hopefully will get to see you somewhere else this year. I thought the hall was great for sound, but was completely thrown of whatever I was going to say during my lecture on the Saturday. 🙂

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