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Review: The Alehouse Sessions, Lost Horizon – ‘As baffling as it is brilliant’
Do you want to party like it’s 1699?
It’s rare these days to leave an event genuinely thinking — “Well, I’ve never seen anything like that before”.
But this one fit the bill. Part classical concert, part theatre, part history lesson — the Alehouse Sessions abound with absurdity and awe-inspiring takes on age-old compositions.
is needed now More than ever
Led by the enigmatic and supremely talented baroque violinist Bjarte Eike, Barokksolistene have been on the circuit for 20 years.
Now, thanks to the crowdfunding nous of through the noise, we’re witness to the ensemble’s signature project — a mesmerising glimpse at the community, cheer and chaos of an English 17th-century tavern.
Such taverns were gathering places for people of all classes — merchants, artisans, sailors, farmers, and even minor gentry. They were, as I understand it, lively, unruly, and entirely essential to everyday life.
Has all that much changed?
Either way, Barokksolistene bring that timeless spirit roaring into the present.
The six-piece band, principally Scandinavian, embody the feeling with electric energy from the outset.
And yes, there are plenty of nods to booze. The skippy, elated overture of The Virgin Queen Set turns to glasses raised and baritone chants.
Per Buhre (on viola) shows off his curious vocal range in a Swedish ode to drinking. Later, Steven Player — as much thespian and dancer as musician — delivers an exemplary one-man performance that tracks the four types of drunk: the staggering ape, the roaring lion, the filthy pig, and the sentimental sheep.
Crude, hilarious and oddly profound.
Steven Player (centre) combines guitar playing with playful dance and theatrics that bring the show to life
Amid the infectious melodies and comic asides, there’s serious musicianship on show. Eike improvises tender violin while an audience member, Isaac, wipes spilt beer from the stage.
Later, a folk tune from Bergen, Norway, evokes mountain peaks with its soaring high notes. A Slovakian number brings new textures still, and an infectious Danish piece repeatedly slows to a halt, teasing us before erupting into a foot-stomping chorus.
Ever-endearing, bandleader Eike involves and engages the crowd effortlessly, from the slapstick call-and-response of “Hi, my name is Joe, and I work in a button factory…” to the folk classic Haul Away Joe, and of course the recurrent boom of “Hough!” as his fist falls — it’s as much an exercise in crowd control as it is musical direction.
Onstage jinx are as high as the exceptional musicianship on display
Screens and colourful murals aside, Lost Horizon is a fitting spot for such a bonanza. The year-round home of the team behind Glastonbury’s legendary Shangri-La area now hosts an idiosyncratic medley of live events, galleries, and residencies.
In short, it thrives on the eclectic — and this show fits right in.
Themes of elation, melancholy, and defiance thread through the evening to shape a carnivalesque set. There’s improv. There’s flair. There are tight-knit, well-rehearsed set pieces that merely seem like off-the-cuff theatre. That sleight of hand only heightens the magic.
The encore? A slow-motion, Renaissance-esque fight scene with a foreboding pulse on the double bass, and then an a cappella rendition of A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns. If that’s not a microcosm, I don’t know what it is.
noisenights programme classical-adjacent music in unusual and atypical independent spaces across the UK, aiming to bring intimate shows to new venues and introduce the genre to new audiences
Noisenights deserve real credit for getting this kind of boundary-pushing work on stage, because the whole shebang is as baffling as it is brilliant — a fusion of classical, folk, jazz, and contemporary experimental elements, complete with sea shanties and silly vignettes.
That genre-blurring energy is captured on several of their albums, including 2022’s The Playhouse Sessions — available alongside other releases via the ensemble’s website.
But it’s live where the project truly shines: with a steely and compelling commitment to “party like it’s 1699”, Barokksolistene are raucous, intimate and impossible to pin down. And that’s exactly the point.
All images: Sam Fletcher
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