Broad Farm at Flegboro

I checked out the reverb rack in the afternoon to make sure all was OK after the previous week. While I was at it I took the decision to re-program the reverb to inhibit unprocessed signal under bypass with the aim of avoiding bad signal sums which might have produced some of the feedback the previous week. Roads were very busy as I set off in plenty of time, but I needed the time as there were tailbacks near Wymondham and Blofield which added 20 minutes to the journey time. It was approaching 6:30 pm as I arrived and I was pleased to see Nige parked up. It turns out there was no need to rush because there was an extension to midnight. We got the gear in and I had a word with the guvnor Alfie. He'd heard about Dave but was a bit shocked to hear he was only 51. He agreed we should start a bit later to fit in with the midnight finish. Nige and I had a bit of the usual trouble erecting the Boses but I was pleased to hear the reverb rack working as intended. Martin arrived and soon got set up. This gig is yet another low light situation so Martin elected to use his lights again. I had re-ordered the set list for this gig and spent a couple of minutes briefing the guys before we got changed into the white'n'black. Then it was showtime. The room was about 60% full as we opened up with the usual “Foot Tapper – Just One Look” start. We got a surprisingly good reaction but, playing safe, we continued on with a typical set 1. Nigel introduced the 'Heavily Brothers' as new banter for the Everlys. We still got Martin to do “Lady Is a Tramp” and it went very well too, apart from the guitar solo where I made a bit of a mess of it – I blamed it on being a bit cramped and in the dark on my side of the stage. I had got hold of some Beatles wigs but on this occasion we ran through a more subtle entertainment routine where Nige announces the Beatles while I quietly put on a wig and pose: then they make fun, but eventually I persuade them to put wigs on as well. Then we played the medley – pretty good as I recall and it got a good reaction from the audience. The gig went pretty smoothly. Although we didn't get many dancers we kept the crowd well entertained. One mid-show highlight was “Shine” which we hadn't done recently and it sounded surprisingly good considering Martin didn't know Dave's vocal. It gave me the confidence that Nige and I could pull that one off on our own if we wanted to. By the time we got to the last set many of the family audience groups had gone to bed so we set about doing some more rockier stuff, playing “All Right Now, Can't Get Enough, Status Quo, Midnight Hour, Shakin All Over” and a surprise request for “Walk of Life” which Nigel and Martin had obviously played in a previous life 'cos they were very tight vocally! Actually we were quite enjoying this rocky session and exploring the darker side of our versatility (yes versatility not sexuality Nigel!). In fact I was just about to call “Born to be Wild” when I spotted we were out of time! We decided to wrap up with “Walk Alone” with the remaining audience singing along drunkenly. It went pretty well so we encored with “Saw Her Standing There”. After we packed and loaded, I spoke with the guvnor Archie before we left. He acknowledged that he had expected some folks to head off to their pitches after travelling up on the Friday of a bank holiday weekend; but he was happy with the band, the evening and his season overall. Got under way about 1am and had a good run home getting to bed about 2:15am.