The Psychedelic Sound of Sixties San Francisco...

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...sung by Scots in soggy Spain!

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Yes, it was a damp evening in Pamplona but that wasn’t enough to put off the Glasgow trio of Haight-Ashbury as they entertained a small and very polite audience at Baluarte on Saturday night. In fact, compared to everyday Scotland, it wasn’t even raining!

Kirsty Reid sang beautifully throughout the evening accompanied by harmonies from Jennifer Thompson who also shook her tambourine all night and kept the beat of the band going on the drums. Standing between them, Kirsty’s brother, Scott, switched guitars between songs as he alternated from rock guitar hero to gentle strummer while they played through their eclectic mix of sounds. At times the extra resonance he produced was too much and drowned out the girls’ voices with unnecessary feedback, yet overall his performance was superb. I was particularly taken by the small box-shaped wooden guitar he played during the song “Three Little Birds”. More about that later.

The show began with muted silence from the onlookers. Maybe they were overcome by how warm it was in the auditorium. Then, before the second song, a baby screamed at the back of the house. It was incredible timing as the song Sophomore begins “Momma’s little baby cries...” and you couldn’t write that into the script if you tried!

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As the evening wore on, heads began to nod to the rhythm and shoulders began to sway. Clapping along and whistling remained at bay but there was heartfelt applause at the end of each piece. The baby was heard again just before “She’s So Groovy” began making me wonder if it was perfectly staged or simply serendipitous!

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After the show I met up with Scott, Kirsty and Jen who were delightfully friendly and chatty. It seemed so bizarre hearing their Scottish accents because, on-stage when they sing, you would never guess they are Glaswegians. The name Haight-Ashbury comes from a hippy district of San Francisco, California. Scott had been there around the time that the band was formed. They explained to me how the “San Francisco” sound they create just happened, it wasn’t something they set out to do. Scott also told me more about the box-shaped guitar. It is, in fact, a cigar box guitar, hand crafted in Cornwall from, you’ve guessed it, a cigar box! They would like to return to Pamplona next year, but hopefully at a time when they can enjoy some Spanish sunshine.

It’s just a shame the audience was so small. Maybe the marketing wasn’t quite right but something has to change or bands like Haight-Ashbury will think it’s not worth coming to Pamplona. That would be a pity as I believe the city has a lot to offer and there must be many people out there who are simply not aware that these events are being staged here.

Still, here we are several days on and the tunes are still resonating around my head! If you missed the show, head on over the band’s Youtube channel and see what you missed. You’ll be sorry you didn’t go.

Three young Scots perform their psychedelic sixties music at Baluarte, Pamplona. Russ Pearce reviews Haight-Ashbury for Navarra News.