Taking to the stage at 9pm we opened with 'Foot Tapper' because they hadn't heard it on our last few visits; I did a bit of a 'hello Trimingham' intro but there was not much reaction (as I expected); so we eased down on the banter after that. Carrying on with the longer version of “Just One Look”, we had one family doing a bit of dancing and the odd rumble of applause – it could have been thunder?. We played on through the book to get comfortable until we came to the end of the Everly's. Then we put Nigel on to do “Beautiful Body” and followed it up with a good, tight performance of “Brown Eyed Girl”. As we were on a roll, I selected “Dream” as the slowey at this point. Dave was a bit quick with the count in so it took me a few seconds to get the tremelo guitar setting going as we started up. Unfortunately, this meant I had to set the reverb as we were actually singing and playing; and in the end, with my clumsy footwork I failed to switch it on. But we sailed through a couple of verses, a middle 8 and a key change before Nige brought it to an early conclusion - it was only then I found the vocal reverb was off! I thought we sang it OK, but Nige later told me the key was too high, so next time we'll try it in C. However, the family dancing seemed to like it so it was a good call audience wise. I had wanted to bring the Beatles forward in the show, so we did the medley next. We got wigged up OK but the audience wasn't really paying attention, so it was just a bit of practice for the banter. We got off to a good, but slightly fast start with “8 Days a Week”, but Dave eased it back as we went along so we were about right as we swang into “Can't Buy Me Love”. I always find “All My Loving” a bit fast, but we played it well and I got the solo right to lead us into “Nowhere Man” with a smooth transition and strong accapella vocals. “I Feel Fine and She Loves You” also went well and the final vocal chord was the best we've done in live performance. So have we finally mastered this complex piece? I'll give it 8 out of 10 - it just needs a bit more feel! As far as the audience was concerned; there was little reaction on this night and I think we were all a bit disappointed with that. Strangely, we started to get a bit of feedback from the PA from this point on – it could be an artefact of the room filling up? Dealing with it as best I could, we ploughed on through the Seasons, Hollies and rock'nroll with added “Be Bop A Lula”. The rock'n'roll did bring up a few dancers; but time was up. So Dave called for “I Believe”, which we got through OK despite lack of a string pad. During the break Ray mentioned that the vocals were on the loud side. Hence the feedback I thought? So I set the PA volume down a bit and Nigel angled his PA speaker in to get some foldback. Richard, the father in the dancing family, came over and said he thought we were great and could he sing “A Fine Time to Leave Me Lucille” with us. So we resumed set 2 with a bit of country lead in, Dave sang “Under the Sun” and I did “Dance the Night Away”; then we called Richard over for his karaoke bit. I established the key was D and we busked through a verse or two. Then Richard called a halt and asked for a restart, which we obliged with, before wrapping up to thunderous applause from his family. We got Dave to flex his muscles on “Let There Be Drums” next. Dave played it great and we finally got a bit of reaction from the crowd at the bar. I decided to do “Travelodge California” next. We got through that fine and I even detected some slight applause as we finished. Next up was the “Searchers”, “Beach Boys” and the Eagles medley. Then I stepped out to do a bit of a Shadows walk with “FBI” for a change. Out front I could hear a very powerful guitar sound – much louder than the on-stage sound. In view of the lack of audience involvement I called for “Shine” next and, keeping Nige on the vocals, followed up with “What I Say” to exercise that. After last weeks debut this performance was a lot better, but still a bit of room to get the solo's right. I called for “Blue Suede Shoes” next. Dave couldn't find the words so I elected to sing it. Dave put in a close harmony just above and that worked well. It was at this point we realised we needed to take a break or the last set would be only 20 minutes. Richard and family had to go and Ray and missus were about to go, so things were a bit thinner on the ground as we resumed for the final half hour. I called for “Crazy Little Thing” to open it and we played it pretty well. We carried on with “Johnny B Good” which rocked along nicely and brought up a couple of dancers. We followed this up with the Spencer Davis sequence which was OK despite the the odd cock up - just needs a bit more shared understanding from airing it occasionally. Next up was “Midnight Hour” which I couldn't fault. Keeping Nige on the vocal Dave called for “Can't Get Enough” which went well until the forgotten ending riff. We need to play that final riff once or twice, not doing it at all is wrong. But I did try a more chorusy guitar sound for the solo and was pleased with the result! By this time it was close to midnight, So Dave called for “Unchained” to wrap up. I sensed the boys were a bit weary of the lack of reaction by that point so there was no need to 'encore'. I must admit I was feeling a bit tired as we packed up, probably the physical and emotional demands of using the old PA. But it had stopped raining and we soon had the gear in the cars. Despite the expected lack of audience reaction I think we had a done a good night for the club. I left Dave and Nige negotiating a possible engagement gig as I got on the road just before 1 am. Had a quiet run home getting in just after 2:30am.
