We were lined up for an afternoon performance starting at 3pm. I had a slow run over to meet up with Mick who had just arrived at 1:30pm. The weather promised to be cold, windy and wet and I was pleased to find the hall well warmed up as we got the gear in. Nige arrived with his extra EV15 bass rig and we got set up in our usual forward position in fairly quick time. Mick tried the headset mic, but it wasn’t working (turned out to be switched to the wrong radio channel) so he implemented plan B setting up a SM58 on a stand. We instantly got a good sound with that and as there were now a few people arriving we elected to omit a sound check and took off to the bar. We got changed into the back shirts, white ties and white waistcoats for the afternoon show arriving on stage for a prompt 3pm start with “Foot Tapper”. Good on stage sound. This went down well and I introduced the band. Then we carried on with a more easy listening biased set climaxing with “Wonder of You”, Sweet Caroline” and finishing with “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. This got a great response, so we encored with “Johnny B Goode” We played some good solos in this and generally the set had gone really well. A few people came up to say how they liked the band and the sound. So we were pretty pleased as we thought what to do with the rest of the afternoon to while away. I messed around with my Sony Laptop to try and install Windows 7 but it wouldn’t do it. I think this was because I couldn’t get a fast enough internet connection? Next I set up my Korg recorder to record the next set. Keeping it simple with master outs form each Bose T1 and a single SM58 over the kit. By the time we finished that we were ready for our free dinner in the restaurant. Took a few minutes to walk over in the wind but it was ncie and warm in there too! We were allocated spaces on a table with some holiday makers from Norwich who entertained us as we munched though celery soup and lamb hot pot. I declined pudding but the others tucked in while I slurped down a couple of cups of tea – very welcome! Then it was back to the concert room to sit through the bingo before our next set. We changed into the white shirts, black ties and black waistcoats for this set and started up at 8:30pm with “Flingel Bunt”. Again we got a good reception. I took us straight on to “Runaround Sue” which we got through better than the last time. Then it was “Summertime Blues, Rock Around the Clock” and then into the Everlys “Cathys Clown Bye Bye Love” medley. We had agreed Mick would take on the lead line so Nige and I re arranged so I could do the high line and he would look for a low line. It took us a verse to get it right but by the end it was sounding good. “Bye Bye Love” we left as was. During dinner we had been asked to do some country: so I teed up Nige to do “Crystal Chandelier Rambling Rose” while we coaxed the crowd to do a barn dance. This worked quite well but the floor emptied as we ended, so I took the opportunity to slip in “Ferry Cross the Mersey” which went down well but we only had a few dancers. We carried on with the “Searchers, Do It Again and Moon of Love” which did fill the floor. With 40 minutes under our belt I called for “Unchained” as the closer. This really filled the floor and we got a good reception for it. But the concert sec was over at the bar chatting rather than signing us off. So I thought it prudent to encore with “Pretty Woman” which we did passably. This was followed by a weak sign off. All a bit of an anti-climax really. We got changed and set about clearing the stage for the Richardson’s Red Coats Show. This is hard work – we work fast to get the gear off stage and close to the exit where we can put covers on etc. After 15 minutes Mick was really red and hot from his exertions, but we had done it. We loaded up and were able to watch the 3 girl and 3 boy show for a while before I set off home for an early night getting in about 11:30pm.
