Another lovely day weatherwise. Ms J accompanied me on this one so she could meet up with Jenny who is still finding it hard going without Dave. We made good time to arrive at the gig about 6:40pm. Nige were there already and we soon had the gear in and set up. Nigel and I continue to swap sides and this was my first appearance on the right hand side of this stage. Greg arrived and started setting up. It is a big stage and Greg must set up quite compactly because Nige and I had loads more room than with other drummers (mentioning no names Dave!). So much so I set up my Fender 12 string as well. Jenny arrived as we completed set up. Nige and I managed a beer then rounded up Greg and we went to get changed into the black’n’black with white ties. We returned to the stage for an on time start with “Flingel Bunt” which sounded good and went well. Greg might benefit from listening to the record to get an idea of the fill ins, but we don’t play it that often so no big deal! As I introduced the band I explained that we had swapped sides so Nige could experience and conduct the ‘glee club’ on his left. It got a laugh! We followed up with “Just One Look” to get the vocals settled. I could hear Nige a bit better than the previous night but certainly not as loud as normal – maybe it’s my left ear? We were waved down volume wise anyway so I left it and adjusted my own sound to suit. Despite the sniffles the voice was performing OK and I led the boys into “Good Luck Charm” as a change song. This filled the floor and we kept it going through “Cathy’s Clown, Bye Bye Love, Beautiful Body”. I called for “True” Love” as the waltz at this point and, after a bit of fumbling for his music, Nige duly obliged. Next up was “Lady is a Tramp to continue the strictly dancing theme; and then we did “Rock Around the Clock” as the change rock’n’roller over the previous night. Inevitably we came to “Crystal Chandeliers” as the barn dance. Nige teased the audience about the start by saying we could only remember that the song started with ‘oooh’ and then false started ‘Lily the Pink’ and then “Sunarise” before a lady came up and demanded “Crystal Chandeliers”. We played through that and “Rambling Rose” and ended it with “Cheating Heart”. I got the boys to do the Hollies medley as the change over the Beatles and that went quite well considering it doesn’t get aired that much, we even got some dancing going - I think because Greg picks a steady dancey beat and sticks to it. Then we wrapped up with “Words” before we took a long break for the bingo! We opened set 2 on the 12 string with “Under the Sun” and the “Searchers” but then we continued a policy of change numbers where we could. I took the vocal on “Moon of Love” and we gave Lying Eyes” a go to reprise the barn dancing (a few got up to dance it). I had to reprise “Sweet Caroline” to get Darren doing his ‘answer backs’; he was outside at the time but got his cue perfectly as he opened the door, did his bit and then stepped out again. Actually, the audience stayed with us quite well, it thinned a bit as we took our last break but I thought there were more than normal as we started a shortish set 3. Nige called for “Achey Breakey Heart” as a line dance request at one point and, despite a change of key over what I’m used to, we got through it in reasonable order. We finished with “Johnny B Goode” and that got a great response; so Darren asked to encore with “Everybody Hurts” which I bravely announced as a Norwich City football song. Nige did a fine job and we got a great response. Overall another good night at the Legion. We packed and loaded quickly on a quiet warm evening and said our good byes (Jenny had surprised us by staying all evening). Ms J and I set off in good heart and made good time home. I thought I had shrugged off the cold the next day but it came back with a vengeance later in the week after a day yachting on a works outing on the Friday.
