Gillian Welch & David Rawlings at Aberdeen Music Hall

ALL THINGS considered, the chilly, windswept environs of Aberdeen are probably not the best place to start your UK tour. At this remove from the more ebullient metropolitan demands of Glasgow or Edinburgh, it perhaps takes a little more time for an audience to warm up, particularly for the support act (Gillian Welch and David Rawlings are second on the bill tonight to the are-they-still-going-then? Hothouse Flowers). Though unequalled in their enthusiasm when persuaded of a performers worth, a Scots audience – to generalize wildly – can be somewhat parsimonious in their initial response, rightly sceptical of the value of the entertainment until proven otherwise.