Basilica gig: Eddi Reader.
By Michelle Herbison
NOTHING is better than “God’s reverb”, according to Scottish singer Eddi Reader.
The pop and folk star said she was looking forward to “singing to the rafters” of Geelong’s St Mary’s Basilica on Wednesday.
She will perform at the basilica with her Eddi Reader Quartet bandmates Boo Hewerdine, Ian Carr and Alan Kelly.
Reader has enjoyed a shining career dating back to the ’80s with Fairground Attraction and its worldwide hit Perfect. She has also enjoyed recent success with a Songs of Robert Burns collection.
Reader said she enjoyed “playing at a grassroots level”.
“At the moment I’m a bit of a greedy bastard for touring because the kids have grown up and are out of the house,” she laughed.
Reader credited her spontaneous performance style to a song-filled upbringing among a family of ship-builders.
“A song could change the mood. If somebody was having an argument, all it took was my uncle to sing a song and it was over.
“I don’t have a set, I just kind of feel it. I have about 16 pieces of paper with different lists.”
Reader considered performing ancient folk songs as carrying them forward rather than looking back in time.
“I see these old tunes as a telephone line through humanity. If I’m singing to you ‘My love is like a red, red rose’ somebody 50 years ago was singing it and 50 years before that.
“It’s so important to keep them alive because they explain who we are.”
