Live Performance Review: Punch Brothers, Sunday 11.11.2012, 19:00, The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh

I knew of 'Punch Brothers' from when they did a support slot with the 'Carolina Chocolate Drops' at the O2 ABC in Glasgow in January 2012, which me and my friend who went to see them at the The Queen's Hall, caught the last three songs of. We were impressed enough to seek out more of them.

There was no support acts at The Queen's Hall Shows, though there was no need. Punch Brothers play bluegrass on a mixture of Acoustic Guitar, Banjo (& 5 stringed banjo), Mandolin, Fiddle and Double-Bass and vocals shared between the musicians. The musicianship was of the highest quality. There were experimental periods, which felt to have ended at just the right points and quirks like a bluegrass cover version of a song by 'The Strokes' called 'Heart in a Cage'. The experimental periods helped it to not feel to predictable. They were clearly very well practiced, with changes in the songs being handled in a very smooth manner. The performance was very enjoyable.

To top it of, the encore began with the Mandolin player performing solo without amplification a piece by J.S. Bach, this in itself felt remarkable.

Then the rest of the musicians came back on the perform again as a unit. For two songs they were all at the front edge of the stage without amplification playing beautiful bluegrass/Appalachian Blues.

They performed for approx 100mins. The only regret was that the playing was so good, that I would have had no complaints had they played for a while longer, and feel that the audience would have agreed with this.

Rating: 09/10.