Concert Review: Clive Carroll at Mycenae House, Blackheath, London

It takes a lot for me to venture to the wilds of South London… The post Concert Review: Clive Carroll at Mycenae House, Blackheath, London appeared first on The Travel Magazine.

Apr 20, 2026 - 10:49

Concert Review: Clive Carroll at Mycenae House, Blackheath, London

It takes a lot for me to venture to the wilds of South London as I’m a committed Northerner through and through. But I’ve been wanting to catch guitarist Clive Carroll for a long time, so I decide it’s well worth the trek. I first saw him way back in the early 2000’s in Los Angeles when Tommy Emmanuel brought him onstage for a few numbers. I was suitably impressed.

Mycenae House

Mycenae House is a community centre occupying a historic building in the leafy suburb of Blackheath. It’s an intimate space with good acoustics, the bar prices are reasonable and, on a Friday night, I find it’s fairly packed. As I’m arriving, I bump into Clive, clutching two guitars, and say hello. He tells me he’s going to be playing a lot of new material and trusting it all goes well.

He needn’t worry as he’s a virtuoso whose playing bridges centuries and styles. His reputation is for technical brilliance with a musical imagination that resists easy categorisation. He gained a first-class honours degree in composition and guitar from Trinity College of Music and then went on to team up with legendary guitarist John Renbourn of Pentangle fame.

This mentorship left a lasting imprint and his music often echoes Renbourn’s blending of early music forms with contemporary sensibilities. He also pushes further, incorporating jazz harmonies, blues phrasing, and even modern classical influences. John Renbourn sadly passed in 2015 but Clive has recently released a double CD of the master’s compositions.

So I’m not sure what to expect when he takes the stage. The opener is The Lincolnshire Ramble, an original inspired by walking around the county, beautifully melodic. He then switches to his baritone guitar, the instrument for the bulk of the new material. He jokes that his four year old son, when he first hears these tunes, asks why he doesn’t just play the good stuff.

Clive Carroll

In fact it’s very good stuff indeed, the resonance of the baritone and the open tunings, giving extra depth and texture to the material. The audience laps it up and are incredibly attentive throughout. His virtuosity never seems to overwhelm the music, weaving complex arrangements into cohesive, emotionally engaging pieces. He ends the first set with a series of Irish traditional reels, leaving us wanting more.

The second half starts with the Mountains of Illinois, a Chet Atkins tune, before another new piece, Maybe I Will (Maybe I Won’t), on the baritone. Then we move into familiar territory with Renbourn’s The Young Man Who Couldn’t Hoe Corn. Now he’s joined on stage by the young Italian guitarist Fabrizio Bianco for duets on Red’s Favourite and Lady Nothynges’s New Toye Puffe.

Later blues harpist Stephen Brayne plays on the Cannonball Adderley tune, Sermonette, before Fabrizio comes back. They all join in for a rousing Mississippi Blues, each taking turns to solo. It’s a fitting end to a great concert, although of course there are encores. Another original, In the Deep, then a spirited rendering of Buffalo. Written by jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham, adapted by Davey Graham, John Renbourn and now Clive Carroll, it’s a great tune to go out into the night, still feeling the groove.