If any thing can epitomise the phrase ‘a bundle of joy’  then it would have be the Saturday March 26th show at Kings Place. In fact I’m inclined to change the phrase to ‘a bundle of two joys’ as joy came in the form of Ian Shaw and Liane Carroll whose collaborative performance and infectious blend of anecdotal fun and seriousness made for a pleasant and thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Ian kicked off the show in solo mode with a song taken from his just released album “The Abbey Road Sessions”. The popular Gerry Rafferty song “Stuck In The Middle With You” was clearly known to many but it was Ian’s lively rendition that made it just the ticket for setting the pace for the rest of the evening.  Notably, by the time Chick Corea’s “Spain” was visited the audience were definitely showing signs of being up for it.

Ian’s piano work throughout was complementary and delivered a good balance of ambience and drama culminating in what was almost an apparition as Liane appeared with Ian then segueing into “If I loved You”. Liane’s vocals glided over the contours of the piano accompaniment in such a way that showed she was now fit and ready to take her place in the evening proceedings.

Engaging immediately with the audience, flurries of laughter were abound, then back to the more serious reason behind the choice of her next song- “At Seventeen”. “It’s because the song content reminds me of when I was seventeen” - apparently four years ago claimed Liane! Judging from the audience guffaws I think most of them were not entirely convinced by her maths.

However, what was more credible was the dynamic range of Liane’s voice and the ability to inflect the vocals to convey whatever is happening in a song thereby keeping things fresh and real with a high element of fun particularly her delivery of Noel Coward’s “Mad About The Boy”.

Ian started the second set with a song written by Danilo Caymmi - “Obsession”, but not before giving us quick lesson in the Welsh language. “Obsession” was originally written in Portuguese and as he cannot speak Portuguese he had considered translating the song to Welsh seeing as Wales is where he originated. Anyway thank goodness someone had translated it to English!  But on the positive side there are now a couple of hundred wiser people out there that now know that a supermarket trolley-park in Welsh is known as park-trolley and veggie-burger in Welsh is burger-veggie. Say no more!! However, the nice bossa feel of “Obsession” gave Ian the perfect opportunity to perform some lovely vocal pyrotechnics. He was clearly in his element.

After a few more songs from Ian Liane returned to the stage where they performed a duet called “Forty Two”. This was another master class in entertainment highlighting the great chemistry they share. Such were the whole proceedings that by the end of the evening the audience was in uproar and stomped up an encore from them-Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi.” With hugs and kisses exchanged these consummate entertainers left the stage glowing with confidence that their work was well done.