Ms J decided to accompany me on this one. We had an early start 'cos the message from Dave was we start playing at 7pm. But we had such a good run over we were first to arrive. It was a pleasant evening and we parked up in front of the gates and waited 'til 6pm when Dave arrived. He got on the phone to the organisers and within a few minutes a chap in big 4 wheel drive arrived to unlock the gates. But by the time we got the hall door open it was well after 6 pm and the guvnor said 8pm start would be fine! Meanwhile Nige had quickly got his gear in and was demonstrating the 'Hawketts Lean' © method of setting up a Bose in a confined ceiling space. I was so impressed I gave it a go. It tested my dodgy shoulder a bit but was definitely easier than the 'Assemble off stage and lift' approach. We set the lights up on the window sills to give colour wash across the small stage. Meanwhile a steamroller had arrived from a nearby rally; and then we were treated to the sight of a long column of tractors passing by on their way home.
Laura, boyfriend Peter, her mum Valisha and various friends of Dave arrived in support. It was approaching 8pm so we went off to risk getting changed in the kitchen. The risk being we might get molested by the ladies cooking in there – or was it that we might get asked to do the washing up! Eventually we were all dressed up in the black'n'white and took to the stage to open with “Flingel Bunt”. 
The sound was OK but I made a few unforced errors; I think due to lack of home practice in the week. Dave suggested we continue softly with “Lady is a Tramp”. I thought we played this pretty darn good, considering we hadn't done it for ages. Dave set a nice pace, Nige had a very full double bass sound as he did the business with a fine set of walking lines that only required a little extra fill from the guitar to generate a modern jazz rhythm section band sound. Dave did a good vocal and I managed to get 90% of the solo right, just forgot to do the sign off line and played chords instead. The audience were tapping and jiggling along to it - all in all a very good effort! Keeping the jazzy flavour, I called for “Girl from Ipanema”. Nige took a bit of a risk busking this more complex number on the bass but, although I could tell when he was straying off message, the audience were blissfully unaware as they bossanoved in and out the hall to the BBQ or bar. Dave was not as relaxed as in previous weeks and wanted to get quickly on; so we agreed to play it safe doing the normal opening sequence from “Just One Look” to “Beautiful Body”. Then we had a bit of a gap, while Dave and I decided what to play next, which Nigel filled nicely with a monologue about the regulatory body 'Off Tap' supervising the Foot Tappers. We finally got going with “Brown Eyed Girl” and played it well enough – nearly got the entry into the bass solo right and the end of the song was close to spot on! Next up was “Only You”, Dave managed to get us to seamlessly miss a verse out – I was quite impressed. After “How Long”, which Ms J said was a very good, we did the Beatles. Not as smooth as the previous night and some vocal drop outs in “Nowhere Man”. Overall it was a bit sloppy, but nothing too fatal. We also did a patchy “Seasons of Gold”. It was going really well until I tripped over my fingers to momentarily throw the timing in “Lets Hang On”. We carried on to the break in this sloppy, patchy way: some numbers were OK, some a bit hurried some were marred by mistakes and some had both problems, e.g. Rockin Robin. We had a break for a BBQ (I donated mine to Jenny) and then we came back on to start set 2 with “Walk Don't Wipe Out”. We did a few birthdays including Valisha's and Tim. Tim has learning difficulties and was being looked after for his birthday weekend by Laura's boyfriend Peter – a very kind gesture from a good young fellow! Resuming, I had wanted to give the 12 string a go because you risk losing the touch not playing it for several weeks. So I changed guitar to play “Mr Tambourine Man”. Dave got Tim up to play the flashing light tambourine and then we followed on with 12 string right through the Searchers into “Do It Again” and then into the Eagles. I was happy enough with the sound during this sequence but, as I feared, I had a bit of finger trouble 'cos I wasn't used to the guitar. Dave went for “Alice” next and then (omitting Elvis) straight into “Sweet Caroline”. We got some good audience participation in both of these and we had a few up to dance as well. We kept the dancers as we went to “Shine” and then played out the set with “Love is All Around”. It was a local gig for Dave and with many of his mates there he had been a bit manic on calling songs (fair enough it was his gig really). But we hadn't experimented very much since the start of the show and, although we were going down well enough, I thought we were a little below par - in need of a stimulus. The lady in charge of the raffle decided to do without a microphone (she really didn't need one as she 'hog called' the numbers out in a way that would make most men fearful). We came on to do a short third set with “500 Miles”. I had heard the Proclaimers doing this on the radio on the way over and it was significantly faster than our usual speed (my fault - I slow handed the arrangement when we learnt it originally). Anyway, I pushed the speed up and it definitely worked better. The audience caught on the comic relief mood and there were quite a few on the floor as we transitioned into “Amarillo”. There were several up and doing Peter Kaye's march and then they did all the right things in “Hey Baby”, “The Twist” and “The Locomotion” - where they conga'd out of the hall into the field and back.. As they were obviously enjoying the party dance sequence I took the boys on into “Hi Ho” and the crowd did the arm swinging sing-a-long bit. A slowey was needed after that, we obliged with “Unchained” and filled the floor with romantics. Time was marching on so we signed off with “Pretty Woman”. The audience was surprisingly enthusiastic as this finished so I took the boys into a fast rock encore with “Saw Her Standing There”. Immediately the band energy stepped up a gear and we rocked through that nicely, Nige and I got the solo together – thumbs up! I led the band straight into “Johnny B Goode” - another great performance. As it finished, Dave caught the mood well, and called for a final bash with “Great Balls” which we rocked through tightly. After the lacklustre middle set, the final set had been surprisingly energetic and together, and we were happy bunnies as we left the stage. Despite my feeling we were under par in the middle of the evening, Ms J commented that we had improved quite a bit since she saw us in April – 'way above the standard needed for this gig', she said. Lots of favourable comments as we packed up. Although attendance hadn't been as large as the promoters hoped, they had made some money and were pleased the event had been a success. With lots of helpers, pack up went smoothly and J and I were on the road well before midnight, getting in at 1:10am.
