TRAD FEST TEMPLE BAR PRRSENTS BARBARA DICKSON & NICK HOLLAND .. PEPPER CANNISTER CHURCH .. JANUARY 25TH 2020

One of the highlights of the 2020 Temple Bar Trad Fest was a rare appearance in Dublin of Legendary songstress Barbara Dickson, who I have been listening to since I was a teenager and who I am glad to say is still in fine voice and charismatic as ever. The venue for this performance was the quaint Pepper Canister Church off  Stephens Green. Barbara was accompanied by her regular musical partner Nick Holland and as this was a acoustic performance, Nick provided all the wonderful keys and harmonies on the keyboard,

with Barbara on the guitar and piano. As this was for the festival the setlist was of course more traditional, but she did perform reworked versions of some of her big hits including 'Another Suitcase In Another Hall' from the hit
musical 'Evita'. Although Barbara was the first to record the song, she never actually appeared in the show, likewise she never appeared in

'Chess' even though she is forever associated with 'I Know Him So Well' one of her biggest hits, which was not included in tonight's show.. A show she has been in and actually originated the role is Mrs Johnstone  in Willy Russell's '' Blood Brothers '' and one of its iconic songs is 'Tell Me It's Not True', which Barbara performed to a delighted audience. Another of Barbara's most popular songs is 'Caravan's' from a 1979 film of the same name and it sounds just as fresh today and it is on of my favourites. Barbara is no stranger to the Folk and Trad scene as she started her career in folk music in the late 60's by attending the many folk festivals in the UK as well as here in Ireland, whilst appearing on the many tv & radio shows in Scotland. Barbara

released her first solo album in 1970 for Decca records, but it was not till 1976 when Barbara had her first hit with a pop recording 'Answer Me', which was also a bestselling album.  Barbara continues to release quality albums, with a new cd out late 2020 'Time Is Going Faster' and with many sell out concert dates to come, there is lots more to look forward to from the Timeless Barbara!

Always a joy to see Barbara - with Mark McMorrow