Barb Jungr - Live Review - Man in the Long Black Coat - Remote Goat

There are some stunning musical performances in Edinburgh that individually may move, excite or inspire you. There are some smart comedians whose knowing references or deadpan delivery will have you snorting with laughter. Then there is Barb Jungr who eclipses them all.

Jungr is a singer's singer, a musician whose technical flawlessness is matched only by her inquisitive drive to find out the meaning, the motive and the methodology behind every song and share it with you in her matter-of-fact Stockport accent: even when - as she notes in this concert, some are written under the influence of considerable quantities of marijuana and may mean nothing at all.

She has been trailing Dylan's "Long Black Coat" for ten years since releasing her first album of his work 'Every Grain of Sand'. If possible, the live performance is even more compelling than the albums, particularly in the dry acoustic of the Queen's Hall where nothing goes unnoticed. Whether you're a Dylan fan aching for a faithful rendition of the unlikely septuagenarian's seminal work, or someone like me who never took to Dylan in your youth, this concert has an astonishing amount to enjoy.

Jungr is no less perfectly accompanied by her pianist and arranger Simon Wallace whose touch makes the Queen's Hall's magnificent Steinway - possibly the most beautiful piano I've ever heard - bring you to the brink of tears.