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Live Performance
Acoustic folk and blues
Explaining Marty O'Reilly and the Old Soul Orchestra's music is like describing a remembered dream. It feels familiar, but at the same time it feels new. It's blues but not blues, folk but not folk, soulful but not soul.
Marty's voice is beautiful and distinctive, his lyrics stark yet lush over gritty electrified guitar. Chris Lynch's violin, Matt Goff's percussion and Ben Berry's rich bass meld beautifully. The chemistry of these friends is obvious. But one can also hear an urgency in the songs, expressing something elemental and perhaps contradictory: love and anger, joy and pain.
The live performance is at the core of this project: the band enters a trance and the music is born again as something new every night. They go from raw gospel blues to cinematic epics, from heavy driving grooves to delicately arranged folk songs. They leave the stage out of breath, the ground littered with broken strings and bow hairs. It's hard to describe, impossible to categorise. Yet people who know the music will try to explain it to you, just as you might struggle to explain a dream in the morning. The visions might slip away as you recount them, but the feeling remains.
The band formed in Santa Cruz California in 2012 and has been touring relentlessly ever since, from San Francisco to New Orleans to London to Seattle. They invite you to join them.
"A band true to its name: soulful" - NPR
"Delightful, well crafted music" - SF Weekly
"Raw musical excellence, guitar, fiddle and double bass played to within an inch of their inanimate lives." - 4000 Miles to Nashville
"Definitely on the top of the Americana list penned by any serious connoisseur of roots music this year." - Portland Tribune
We programme events with a focus on Arts and Sustainability at our near zero carbon venue in Cardigan, West Wales. Our venue is a reflection of Small World Theatre’s values and provides an accessible, welcoming, sustainable example for other groups working towards a zero carbon future.
We strongly suggest you book ahead. You can book your entrance tickets online at anytime up ‘til 3pm on the day of the event provided that we haven’t reached our capacity.
Please bring a print out of your booking sent to you by Pay Pal to present to the door staff on the night. Tickets are non-refundable except when an event is cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control, in which case Small World will refund you.
Alternatively you can book tickets in person by visiting our office Tuesday – Friday, 9.30am – 4.30pm. Please pay by cash/ cheque and you will be issued with tickets to take away.
Bath House Road,
Cardigan,
Ceredigion,
Wales,
SA43 1JY.
01239 615 952
