Searles at Hunstanton

Marita and Jacqui were accompanying me so I had to put a couple of seats back in the car. We set off early so we could have a bit of time at the seaside. Called in a pub at Snettisham to have a drink and some nuts. We arrived at the gig about 3pm and parked up round the back. It was warm and sunny enough for us to walk along the front to town and have fish and chips at a restaurant there. We walked slowly back to the gig avoiding the temptations of ice cream to meet up with Dave and Jenny who had just arrived. Got the gear in on the trailer and half set up when Nigel arrived.



We were soon all set up and ready to go. There weren’t many there as we started the revised set 1 but it filled up rapidly as we progressed. Dave got a guy up to do the Shadows walk and he got a free CD. We had some kids playing tambourine in Mr Tambourine Man; and just as we came to the end of that a group of 20 something girls danced their way to the front, obviously enjoying the 60’s vibe, waving, blowing the band kisses etc. This did liven us up a bit and we progressed right through to “I Believe” with a spring in our patter! In the break the girls insisted on having photo’s with the band but then they had to head off – presumably to find some younger men. Jacqui, Marita and Jenny looked suitably shocked at the whole episode! We started set 2 with the Searchers which went well. Then we got a request for “Peggy Sue” which Nigel happened to know – so we did that and it was much appreciated. Proceeded through the rest of the set OK and took a break. Started set 3 with “500 miles” which got a good response so we carried on with the “Amarillo” party dance sequence through to “Hi Ho Silver”



We did the Spencer Davis pieces (much too fast) and after that the concentration of the band waned as we played through “American Trilogy” and “Unchained” with lots of trivial errors. So we finished off with “Pretty Woman”; Nigel and I did the “avoid signing off the drummer” routine which went well enough for us to encore with “Wonderful Tonight”. Got packed up quick with J’s help and we munched our pack up meal on the way home getting in about 1am.