The Oasis at Scratby

It had been quite hot in the week and the weather was a bit close as I set off just before 5pm. Despite some heavy rain on the approach to Norwich I had a fast run to Acle and then eased back. It was as I got within a mile of the coast that I encountered a coastal mist - not thick enough to count as a “sea fog”, but it did bring the temperature down a few degrees. I was first to arrive at 6:20pm and I had just got the door unlocked when Nigel arrived with his missus Vanita. They were staying in a chalet on site for few days seaside holiday with her daughter and baby. Dave'n'Jen turned up a few minutes later and we started the load in. The idea was to get set up before bingo at 7pm and the guitar and bass stuff were largely in place by then; I left my mic and FX pedals to one side to allow Angela to call the bingo from my side the stage. Dave continued to set up his drums much to her annoyance - but they made it up later! Then it was settle down for an hour or so while the bingo and children's entertainment was under way. I decided to have a lager shandy in the bar area behind a perspex screen that kept the noise down quite well. The gig was the fullest I have seen, there were about 100 in the club room with all ages represented. Chilly (from Skegness) was the DJ doing the kids stuff and he did a pretty good job I thought. After a while Dave came back with a round of drinks. I kidded him I had a few pints while I was watching and he was concerned whether I could stand up to play! About 9:20pm, off we went to changed into the red'n'white (I got my sparkly white tie on by mistake) for our first 45 minute spot. Chilly did a good intro while I got my mic stand and FX pedals in place and then we were off with “Foot Tapper” and the short version of “Just One look”. Not a bad on-stage sound and we got a good round of applause from the audience. We carried on with the usual stuff through to the Everly's and then I announced our tribute to Michael Jackson as Nige led us into “Rockin Robin”. I managed to resist the temptation to play it in F (the key I used to play it with the Checkmates), but forgot to switch the guitar sound to rock'n''roll so the solos were a bit smooth – a bit like Des O' Connors band would do it? Still Nige sang it great, Dave drummed it with some energy and the audience loved it! I wanted to try a slowey so I got Dave to do “Three Times a Lady” next. Early on Dave ran into some trouble with his voice and I took over for a few lines while Nige got him 'vocal zoned' up. We didn't get the dancers up, but it earned a good round of applause nevertheless. I brought the Beatles up next and the banter went quite well with this bigger crowd. We played it through OK but, although by and large we are remembering our parts well enough, it still needs to gel together a bit more. I usually reckon we have to play these complex routines about 50 times to get the feel right, so we've about another 40 to go there. I think it definitely sits better earlier in the set, 'cos it is more about entertainment than dance. Next we got straight into the glasses routine as we did the three Buddy Hollys medley. This also went OK, but again Dave forgot the audience participation bit at the end of “Oh Boy” so we ground to a premature halt (all together though). Next up was “Let There Be Drums” which earned a big response from the crowd and we followed that with the Shadows Walk routine. After a bit of coaxing, a couple of young girls came up onto the front stage to play the rubber guitars and do the walk with Uncle Mog. While I was out front I could check the band sound; it was good - a powerful guitar underpinned by a solid rhythm section. We finished to a most appreciative response. I got back to the main stage and we carried on with the Hollies medley and then wrapped up with “I Believe” to strong applause. Chilly took over well and went straight into his adult dance competition so it must have looked quite slick from the front of house. During the break Nige went back to the chalet. His missus was still helping with the baby who was a bit cranky, but she said they could hear the band clearly enough to know what the songs were. A remarkable achievement from the Bose: the sound had to carry to the side of the concert room, outside into the smokers garden, through a wooden fence and down the road a bit, past some other chalets and into their chalet – amazing! As we regrouped for set 2 at about 10:45pm we were a little disappointed to see the audience had dwindled to about 50. We got lined up behind Chilly and he announced his last routine as “Hey Baby”; so Dave said 'we can do that for you' and off we went into it. Chilly sang a bit, did some dancing and we all worked hard to get the audience to sing-a-long. Fantastic showmanship from both Chilly and the Foot Tappers! The audience was still dwindling as we carried on with a shortish second set including the Searchers, Halfway, Elvis, Unchained, Shine, East Anglian trilogy, Amarillo and wrapped up with Pretty Woman. Chilly took over for the final half hour as we packed up. We had some good comments from the handful of people left and the management was pleased; so, apart from Nigel who was staying, it was load up and away for a fast run home, through some bits of mist and rain getting in about 1:30am.