ReTrio at The Dolphin Pub Wortham

Our booking was for Saturday 29th March.  Strange but true - a chance reading of a gig guide that showed another band called "Faith" at the Dolphin on Friday 28th,  prompted Chris the bass to get in touch with the pub.  Yes they did have us booked for the Saturday in one diary,  but that was an error because they really preferred music on the Friday.  No, the booking for "Faith" was cancelled months ago and they weren't coming.  So could ReTrio switch to the Friday?  Actually that suited me and Chris a lot better.  In my case I needed to pop down to London to help daughter Claire complete their move from Hackney to Walthamstow and a free Saturday would be ideal. Chris the bass could use the Saturday for family and Chris the drum not bothered either way.  So 'yes we can' was the right answer all round!  We did a practice on the Tuesday and Chris the drum reminded me that Mick Taylor (ex Stones) might show up.  'Right ho',  I said, 'we'd better brush up "Honky Tonk" and run through "Brown Sugar";  both records he played guitar on.  And I'd better take my little Vox Valvetronix and spare guitar in case he wants to join in'.  Come the Friday I loaded up both Bose,  the spare Line 6 and the Vox - the car was pretty full!

 

Rhythm Section Setting Up

 

Chris the bass swang round at 6:15pm and I followed him out in convoy to the gig.  We parked up to find Chris the drum with missus Trudy already loaded in and setting up.  Our set up went OK,  I chose to use just one B1 on Chris's side to give a bit more floor space. When I switched on and it all worked, but the echo was low. Quickly spotted the vocal FX foot pedal was halfway up!  Not many in for the start and again I decided to bypass the DEQ1024 opting for quality rather than sheer volume.  At sound check Chris the drum felt his mic was a bit low so I tinkered with mid boost on the Line 6 mixer and got a bit more gain on it;  but advised him to sing loud as well!  Then it was down the beers and while away an hour to show time at 9pm.  I'd worn my white T to the gig and it was white Ts and black waistcoats as we took our positions for the off.  The first few numbers are the same most nights now,  but the banter varies a bit as I try to set a good time mood early in the night.  I was concentrating on this so much that I forgot to put my left hand in the correct position for opening "Heartbeat" and got off in the wrong key.  I shifted quickly and we played the intro through again (without restarting) and carried on as though it was all part of the show.  As usual I mixed up words in "Smiling", and after "Groovy" I announced "Blue Suede" and inexplicably started "Rock Around the Clock" in Blue Suede's key of A.   I shrugged to the boys and indicated we had started so we had better finish it.  We played it OK though - didn't drop a beat.  And acknowledging the mistake in a Bruce Forsyth sort of way I called "Blue Suede" to follow.  There still weren't many in the pub and I was thinking it would be a hard night to hold the attention of the few.  By the end of the set there were a few more in but I decided to finish on "All Shook Up" rather than the usual ballad.  Set 2 was more on the ball.  We opened with "FBI" for a change.  After that I pushed the guys to do numbers in flights of 3 or 4 with no breaks - so we wouldn't have to banter as much to a small crowd. We debuted Chris the drum singing "Proud Mary".  He starts slow like Tina Turner and then abruptly switches to Creedence pace - it swang along quite nicely so I think it will stay mid position in this set.  As we got into the 70's stuff,  we had a couple of dancers with us for several numbers right up to the finish with "Wonder of You".  Actually, there had been a steady trickle of late arrivers throughout set 2 and at 11pm as we resumed for the last set I would say the pub was busy.  We opened with a request from one of the dancers for an Elvis ballad,  so we obliged with "American Trilogy".  Don't know if it was pollen or a bug,  but I found this hard going vocally and was quite out of breath for the last phrase which I restricted to 4 bars rather than the usual 6. Still it went down well and we carried on with "Great Balls" and then a generally dancey set. We did fit in a good performance of "Honky Tonk" but no Mick Taylor (or Bill Wyman) in the wings?  I tried a version of "Mustang Sally" as a request (to show Chris the bass how to phrase it - he likes the song and I suggested he sing it but he had difficulty with phrasing when we tried it out,  so I said I'd have a go at some gigs and he can sing along til he gets it):  but then on the night I cocked up the phrasing a bit myself; so I will have to work on it.  I have to say that the audience did its part in this set with bits of dancing,  singing along and applause;  so it was quite enjoyable and relaxed for us.  At 11:40 ish Chris indicated time for the last number and we did the usual with Johnny B Goode and its outroductions.  I was ready to do an encore but we were well over time already and there wasn't much in the way of shouts for more,  so we called it night just after 11:50 pm.  I found tear down and load quite demanding again. I think this is a combination of being a tad under the weather and that I have to put a lot of effort into the band performance.  Don't get me wrong: I like to be busy on stage; but doing most of the singing,  most of the solos, masterminding the show, bantering and looking after the sound is demanding and does leave you drained at the end of a night.  Fortunately the boys did the heavy lifting out to the car.  I have it in mind for both Chris's to do a bit more in the show as they get more confident with the current material.  Strange drive home:  I was in a bit of a dream like state - maybe i was going down with a bug? 

 

Next day I unloaded and Jacqui and I drove to London to help Claire move from Hackney to Walthamstow.  This resulted in me making a couple of drives of 7 miles between flats:  each one took about an hour in Saturday traffic and Nick and I also fitted in a trip to Walthamstow tip where we unloaded their bathroom rebuild rubble into a skip.  I was so tired by the time we got back to Hackney I had to go across the road to the Marksman pub and have a pint and a steak sandwich to revive myself for the final drive back to Walthamstow!