When our friend* Erland Cooper played a special limited capacity live (and live-streamed) show at The Barbican in London, music lover Gail Walker was one of the lucky few to have a seat in the audience - here she shares her experience

On Saturday night, I took a ferry journey with Erland Cooper and his ensemble across the North Sea to Orkney… metaphorically speaking. This was no ordinary journey… it was tender, spellbinding, and deeply emotional from beginning to end as I was immersed in the textures, soundscapes and beauty of Erland’s birthplace.

Erland’s music and poetry has this unique ability to transport people to another world and indulge in a complete sensory experience. This show was no exception. But what made this truly special was having the opportunity to attend my first live concert since back in March.

Getting into the venue was easy. We had to wear face masks upon entering and we had to pre-order any alcoholic drinks, but this was really straightforward and it was quite nice to have drinks waiting for us. It was only a 60-minute performance and because it was live streamed we couldn’t enter or leave our seats during that time. It felt reassuring to know there were guidelines in place to ensure everyone’s safety.

The atmosphere was as I expected for a sit-down classical-esque gig. I was initially aware of there being fewer people than normal (we were sat in pairs with 3 seats empty between us and then alternating empty rows) but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the event. In fact, if anything, it made it feel more special.

After a special introduction by Mary Anne Hobbs, Erland was joined on stage by some wonderfully talented musicians, including violinist Anna Phoebe, soprano and multi-instrumentalist Lottie Greenhow and the London Contemporary Orchestra. Throughout the set, Erland and the ensemble played tracks from all three albums of his recent Orkney tryptch, Solan Goose, Sule Skerry and Hether Blether.

Mary Anne Hobbs introducing Erland Cooper and his ensemble at The Barbican

With the set accompanied by beautiful visuals of Orkney by Erland’s long-time creative collaborator Alex Kozobolis, we were also treated to a moving poetry reading by Will Burns and beautifully delivered spoken word from Kathryn Joseph.

The combination of the music and the visuals was very moving. I found myself totally drawn into the music and ambiance. The stage was acting out a love story with the Orkney Islands and I felt as though I was living it too.

The whole experience had a significant impact on my well-being in that I was so thankful to see a live event. It felt good to have a ’normal’ night out. There was the excitement in the lead up to the gig, and it was also lovely to meet some people at the venue and simply talk about music. And post-gig there was the familiar excitement of discussing the performance and reading all the positive comments on social media..

It also made me appreciate the hard work that goes into it and how much the artists, crew and venues depend on this to stay in business.

The Barbican and Erland Cooper have shown that a live (in-person and online-stream) performance can work post-COVID with the right social distancing and sanitisation measures in place. Erland Cooper’s music is obviously well suited to this type of seated set-up, but it gives me hope that we can find a way for all genres of music going forward.

*In May 2019, we joined forces with The Queen’s Hall to bring Erland Cooper to play an exclusive one-off Scottish date in Edinburgh.

‘Spellbinding and deeply emotional’- Erland Cooper live at The Barbican