Good run over in rush hour and traffic was good, so I arrived at the hall at 6:20pm to find Dave already setting up. We carried on setting up and I made an adjustment to to rock’n’roll reverb. While we waited for Nigel to arrive. But he was lost a few hundred yards away! In the end Dave talked him in and we finally got cracking about 7:30pm. Nigel had bronchitis so a bit off par and sat down to sing. Did a warm up with “I Feel Fine” which Nigel asked for a check on middle 8 chords. Had some problems getting the PA sound right. Ended up boosting mids for this hall. We have a difference of opinions on reverb levels: Nigel and Dave want less than I want. I’m happy to compromise a bit but I do believe a good dollup of reverb presents the best sound to the audience - so we may need an independent assessment somewhere down the line. Started off by putting Nigel into some of Dan’s repertoire, so we have:
- Peaceful Easy Feeling – Nigel Lead, Dave close above and me the high line, this worked fine
- End of the Line - We ended up switching parts so I do Dan’s old line and Nigel does mine. Bit of home practice for both of us.
- Johnny B Good - worked fine. Nigel will give me a U Tube link to help me work on the original Chuck Berry solo.
- Spirit in the Sky – Switched Key to G, lose last chorus, me to look at opportunity for more distorted guitar parts?
Then we looked at some more tricky pieces:
- Somebody Help Me – we agreed Nigel to sing in A and to marry this with Keep On Running with Dave taking the lead also in A. I will need to research guitar parts for both and they will be placed in the more rocky end of the show.
- Seasons of Gold - Adrian to resend arrangement and Nigel to work on Dan’s parts. But the run through to demonstrate the scope was promising.
- Hotel California - Nigel worked up the bass part very quickly and fitted in well on Dan’s vocal lines. I played it on the 12 string and fluffed the solo. Nigel liked the sound of the 12 String so we did a couple more 12 string pieces Needles and Pins and Mr Tambourine Man to demonstrate the sound fully. Then for the hell of it we did Take It Easy / Lying Eyes on the 12 string.
Nigel suggested “Let it Shine” from Take That, Dave suggested “Oh Boy” from Buddy Holly - both have gone on the list. We had a bit of a convo about Bose gear. Dave and I both counselled Nigel to sell his if he got a good offer. We have plenty of PA if we do big halls. Nige paid £20 to me I gave him £15 change and gave Dave Nigel’s £20 for the hall letting him off any payment. So the effect on the kitty is Adrian and Dave have taken out £5 each for the hall plus another £5 = Kitty down by £15. We called it a night about 10:00 pm packed up and got off home, agreeing to resume the next Thursday. I got in about midnight on a clear mild night.
