Heather Findlay

York River Art Market

18 August 2024

When Heather said she was doing a "busking set", I wasn't sure what that would mean. I don't think I really expected ... busking.

The York River Art Market is literally what is says: artists of various types showing and selling their work, spread out along the river bank (at the bottom of the Museum Gardens, for those who know York). I had time to stroll along and look at all the stores, but didn't spend as much time browsing as I wished I could, because in the middle of it was this:

In a beautiful setting, framed by trees and the river, there was Heather with just a guitar and an amp, playing to anyone who happened to wander by.

I don't need to give a set list, because anyone who knows Heather will know what she played. I could probably have written the set list in advance and been 90% accurate. She's got a huge body of work to draw on, but she has to pick songs that work with just an acoustic guitar. So there's a couple of Odin Dragonfly songs, a couple of Mostly Autumn songs, and a whole bunch of her recent songs. Apart from the "world premier" of one brand new song, there are no surprises. But that's fine, I don't come to a gig like this expecting surprises. I came to listen to the best singer in the whole world singing a set of songs that I love. And that's what I got, for almost two hours.

When she announced her last song, I looked nervously at the time because I had a train to catch—I honestly hadn't expected her to play for a full two hours. But even at risk of missing a train, I wasn't going to budge until the last note of Shrinking Violet finished. My favourite singer, singing her most perfect song, in a beautiful setting. Days don't get better than this.

The "busking" format was interesting, but I don't think it's the best way to show off her songs. Plenty of people walked past, but only a tiny few stayed to listen, and I think only four of us were there for the entire set. And in deference to the people who wanted to hold conversations and buy art, she kept her amplification very low—too low for the first song, I thought, but she struck a better balance after that. She said almost nothing between songs either—probably because there was no "audience" to address, apart from the handful of us who knew everything about the songs already!

So, an odd format for a gig, but a beautiful setting, obviously beautiful music, and well worth the trip to York.