Ideally, the perfect opening act is one you've never heard of and who manages to turn you into a fan by the end of their set. This was what happened to most of the audience that heard English guitarist Clive Carrol open for Tommy Emmanuel's show at the Olympia.
Most of the audience, including yours truly, was unfamiliar with this artist but we were won over by his renditions of traditional Celtic tunes, blues and country numbers and even some medieval pieces, performed acoustic and unaccompanied.
We made a mental note to check out his website to buy his CDs (you can do so by clicking HERE) and swore that we would catch him next time he'd be performing in Paris. What we didn't know was that the next time would be 45 minutes later, as he sat in with the headliner for a tasty guitar duet over some traditional Irish tunes!
An excellent set and the perfect mood setter for what was about to follow.
