ReTrio at The Victoria Thurston

In December we had discussed the possibility of a Valentines Night Dance with the owner of Pot Black and I got as far as making flyers and tickets on the pc.  But while I was away the project got canned:  basically because of poor ticket sales.  I think we learned some lessons about the need for promotion of own events there. But coincidentally the Victoria at Thurston had been given a 5 year lease extension and Chris the bass was able to book us into there this night to replace the Valentines gig. 

The day after the big Friday night storm it was still windy and wet as I set off with Ms J aboard at about 6:15 to arrive at the pub at 6:30.  The two Chris's were in an advanced state of set up and the bass amp was well back as I had asked.  There definitely wasn't room for two Bose,  so I took the decision to put up the Line 6 2M on Chris's side.  I set the stand up just to the right of the bass rig and with the 2M speaker on the pole it was positioned slightly over the bass rig.  By positioning the pole legs carefully to fit in nooks and crannies, the whole set up only took about 6 inches of extra floor space up!  I set the Bose up on my side and, with Chris the Drum forward of the back line, the whole set up was a lot more comfortable all round.  I set the Bose levels first then I ran a normal PA XLR to jack signal lead to the 2M inserting the jack into the combi input socket at the back.  I was able to take the volume up quite high on the 2M before feedback which makes me think that,  another time, I might be able to get more sensitivity using the XLR element of the combi socket? Testing it out - we all thought it sounded good and complementary to the Bose sound.  We sound checked with "Smilin" where I make good use of the harmoniser and a bit of use of strings. 

 

All sounded OK and we got a ripple of applause from the few people in the pub.  By playing time there were still only about 15 people in (including wives) which was disappointing - but it was another cold, wet and windy night.  Anyway we kicked off with the usual and about 4 numbers in,  I was pleased to see old buddy, Mike Keeper and family coming in which boosted numbers significantly.  With a couple more arrivals as the set progressed, we had about 25 to play to.  Mike had brought his video and set about doing a video record of our performance as I opened a mini country sequence by introducing Chris the drum to sing "Ring of Fire".  This went down well and I had briefed Chris the bass to be ready to follow on with his intro number "Act Naturally".   The idea of this is a novelty number to introduce him and get him singing confidently,  I take the high harmony to beef it up and anchor it to key.  On the night he did quite well and got a good round of applause for it!  Thinking there might be some country fans in the far room I popped in an abbreviated "Folsom Prison" to complete this little country spot.  We then moved onto the sixties: opening with some banter about the rivers of East Anglia vs Liverpool before playing a creditable version of "Ferry Cross Mersey" We did the usual sequence of "8 Days a Week, Mr Tambourine Man and Walk in the Room" to complete the sequence.  We had settled down and I was pretty content with the overall sound and my voice was holding up well second night out.  We were in a relaxed vibe:  even where we (mainly me) forgot occasional details of our arrangements the band followed whatever I improvised with only slight hesitation.  After a few rock n roll numbers we were approaching the end of the set.  On this relaxed night I elected to finish with "Albatross" introduced as Albert Ross - a good choice we all agreed.

Set 2 opened with a bit of banter between me and Mike on the role of washboards in skiffle and a snatch of "Putting on the Style" to take Mike back to his cinema seat ripping youth in the mid 50's.  We opened up set 2 proper as usual with "Apache" - I did a bit of a stroll out front but nothing too energetic.  "Delilah" went well as usual but,  as there was such a small audience,  I then took the boys on through the set at quite a pace,  pushing the continuity by running numbers into sequences where I could.  I finished with an OK version of "Wonder of You" where I chose to sing the last phrase down rather than risk an unseemly flat high note on the video!

Set 3  came and went in much the same manner and we wrapped up with Johnny B Goode where I was pleased to get the timings on the outroductions largely right and got back into my final solo in good order!  We have taken to using Chris the drum's vocal: "Help Me Make it Thru the Night" as the preferred slowey in the final set and on this night I recall that we encored with it. 

As we proceeded to pack up,  although the pub was by no means full,  it was strange how large numbers of people contrived to be in the way as we tried to get the gear out through the front door.  True - it was cold outside and they all wanted to huddle near the door as they smoked.  The two Chris's helped me out with the final bits of PA and I was glad to shut the door on the car to get out of the wind and set off for home.  As we drove,  Jacqui commented that the band's sound had been excellent,  we had played well and a good time had been had by those that came.  A fitting conclusion I thought - but I suspect they may not be booking us back as we don't bring enough of a crowd to make it pay.  Ah well,  we will see.  Post script:  Mike dropped his video edit off a couple of days later.  I thought the video was pretty good and he also commented on the crisp, clear sound of the band and how the video didn't do justice to the sound. Must be doing something right?

ReTrio Video