The BordererS 25thAnniversary Gala
The Gov, Sunday 24thMarch 2019
(Reviewed by John Glennie)
Jim and Alex arrived in Australia from Glasgow and Belfast respectively, not knowing each other, but they just happened to meet by chance in a recording studio in Adelaide. She was married with a 3 year old child and he was a backpacker. How would this work out, you would think?
25 years later and The BordererS are still electrifying audiences across Australia and the world with their fusion of Celtic rock, zydeco, African, folk, gospel and whatever style of music that happens to take their fancy.
They returned to The Gov to celebrate and brought their original line-up. What a show they put on – it truly was a Gala!
The City of Elizabeth Pipe Band started the evening off with Scotland The Brave and soon after The BordererS graced the stage to huge cheers. We were definitely in for a great evening – Jim and Alex showed that the years have not slowed them down. In fact, I think they have even more energy than they started out with in 1994.
They played two sets, each with 13 high-energy songs including some covers, highlights of their own music and Scottish classics. Mid way through the first set, The Garrick Stewart School of Scottish Dancing came to the dance floor to perform the sword dance to The Battle Song. This was followed up by a beautiful cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. The energy went back into top gear again with tracks such as Temptationand Drink Till You Drop. After a couple more songs the set finished off with Fat Bald Ugly where Alex asked “will you love me when I’m fat” with the audience providing the appropriate replies in the chorus.
When The BordererS left the stage the Gala didn’t stop there. We were entertained again by the pipe band playing Scottish classics as well as covers of Queen and AC/DC and wonderfully supported by the highland dancers.
When the pipers left the floor we had an entertaining segment from Scottish comedian & magician Kevin Kopfstein. He performed a few tricks with his magic tartan handkerchief from which he produced a variety of drinks. There was also the customary card trick but with an “invisible” pack of cards. After a member of the audience had selected a ”card” and inserted it back into the invisible pack upside down, he magically produced a real pack of cards and, you guessed it, the card the audience member named was the only one in the pack upside down! Kevin finished off by swallowing (totally!!) a metre0long balloon – as his mother wouldn’t let him get a sword to swallow.
Back to the music as The BordererS returned to the stage for their second set. Another half dozen high energy songs with Jim and Alex dancing vigorously through all of them kicking legs to head height (I hoped that something was worn under their kilts!). Included in these songs were Gimme The Rhythm, St Antonin (we had to sing the French chorus lines), Living For The Weekend and Jump Right In – which really did get the crowd jumping right in!
Very special guest Rachael Leahcar – runner up in the first season of The Voice – came on stage for a superb solo cover of Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Rachael said she recently celebrated her 25thbirthday so felt honoured to be asked to sing at The BordererS 25thanniversary! She stayed on to sing a couple of verses of Higher Ground with the band – Rachael has an angelic voice but I much preferred her voice in this song!
The BordererS finished off the set with Scottish classics including Loch Lomond – not sure who took the high road or who took the low road but they included We Are Australian in the middle of the track. The crowd went wild to The Proclaimers’ 500 Miles before a sensational evening ended on a more subdued note with We’ll Meet Again.
I was surprised when I was leaving to note that the show went for 3½ hours – it definitely did not feel that long. Hard call, but I think this is the best show I have seen so far this year! Thank you for sharing your 25thanniversary with us Jim and Alex.
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