It was very cold with a strong northerly wind as I set off, then it started raining occasionally as well. I arrived as planned at 6:45 to meet the boys who were already parked and unloading. The guvnor was surprised a new band (we were playing as ‘Sky High’) knew to go to the back; apparently they enjoy sending new acts around the houses! We got the gear in and Ray moved his car saying he got told off last time he parked in the spot nearest the club! Just to be on the safe side Nige and I parked so that special space was still available, Ray stood back as Nige and I set up the bose at the back of the small stage. Then we handed over and he set up his Ludwig kit. Finally Nige and I came back and set up our performing positions – lo and behold we were all set up on this small stage! Bingo starts at 7:50pm and we were asked to be ready for a 9pm start so we had a beer and chat in the bar at the back. We set off about 8:45 to get changed and arrived back downstairs at 5 to 9 to find the lights set for the band to start – they had finished bingo early! We got sorted as quick a we could and I think it was one minute to nine as we opened up with “Foot Tapper”. I thought we had an excellent volume balance. Ray was on the hot sticks again and you could look round and see people enjoying the performance not holding ears! After “Just One Look”, we had a few ladies up to dance in “Heartbeat” so we tried to keep it going with “Do You Wanna Dance” which had the desired effect. Nige called for “Somebody Help Me” next. I was a bit caught short changing the guitar settings but once we got going we did a pretty good job. The band carried on into “Keep On Running” which is relatively a bit ragged for the first set. Interestingly, with Ray playing we didn’t seem to get overloud with this as we had done with other drummers, so with a bit of tidying up it could be a set 1 dancey regular. By tidying up I mean it’s mainly down to me to do the homework on words and get the guitar changes and licks practiced into the fingers. By this time the dancing ladies looked like they needed a change so I announced the Everlys “Cathys Clown and Bye Bye Love”. I was fiddling with guitar settings as I was doing this and wasn’t forceful enough, cos Ray only heard “Bye Bye Love”. Needless to say we set off playing Cathy’s Clown with a Bye Bye Love rhythm. Once started it was impossible to get out of so we played it through. The audience didn’t give us a hard time thankfully. We tried “Peaceful Easy Feeling” with two voices. It works well enough for this kind of gig but would benefit from use of harmoniser; plus it occurred to me that we could try Ray out on the main vocal line (or just the chorus) to thicken it up. (We need to tighten up the stop after the instrumental section) The Eagles can be seen as a bit country and their songs do go down well at this club. So I tried a bit of country with “Folsom Prison” = no dancing, but it was appreciated with some warm applause. I asked Nige to have a go at “Ferry Cross the Waveney” next and that brought quite a few up to dance a slow song and was well appreciated. So Nige called for a jazz bar version of “Phoenix” next and that went well. We did a bit of rock’n’roll with “Move It” and “Rock Around the Clock” and then started to wrap up with “The Beatles”. As we finished the concert sec says “You have another 10 minutes to do!” It turns out it is a one hour first set here. Undeterred we carried on with “The Searchers” and finished up with a floor filling “Words” (another song that would benefit from use of harmoniser). I had a word with the guvnor to make sure the next couple of sets would be timed ok. We resumed with an easy tempo start with “Somewhere under the Sun – Tambourine Man”. After a Birthday request, we had a go at the “Hollies Medley”, It was better than the previous outing but I still momentarily lost the transition to “Here I Go Again”! (This is another piece that would benefit from use of harmoniser” The audience were a little subdued as we searched for the right combination of listen/danceability. I tried to wake things up with “Eyes at Me For” which went well but eventually we struck gold with the “Halfway, Wonder, Sweet Caroline” sequence which had them dancing and singing along. I was wondering where we might go next, when Nige called for “Amarillo” and by the time we had done “Hey Baby” and the “Twist” it was close to time so we could wrap up with “Hippy Hippy Shake”. During our 15 minute break, we had a request for “Lying Eyes”. The audience had thinned out a lot as we took to the stage for our third session to play to 11:45pm (yes its a long night here), so we opened with “Lying Eyes”. That went down with the remaining audience so well we also did “Take it Easy” I thought we performed both these songs well at a nice easy pace (thanks Ray), but I noted that these would also benefit from use of harmoniser. We only had half an hour to play and as there weren’t many people left we tried out “Uptown Girl” Nige did a great vocal on this and it is a real energiser so we need to fit in as a regular ASAP. I took the opportunity to try out “Money for Nothing”. It was better paced than previously, but I still have some work to do to perfect the riff and the end – still a step forward I thought. Next up was a nicely paced “Midnight Hour” and then we finished with “Wonderful Tonight”. Despite the slightly ragged performance and a slightly muted audience response I think we had a fairly good night overall. In fact several people came up at the end to say how much they enjoyed it. Ray’s drumming definitely helped deliver the right sound balance for this type of club and Nige had had a very good night vocally; rising to the challenge of some big numbers several times. We were tired as we packed up, but Ray was particularly so and we encouraged him to make an early departure. I finally got on the road about 12:30am and home for just after 2 am.
