Chris the bass had been on holiday in Tenerife and was landing back at Stansted in the early hours of Saturday morning. Thought he would have a lay in so I exchanged texts about 10:30 and we agreed I would motor round to his place for a 6:20 departure to the gig. Once in convoy he set off at such a pace it took me to Stowmarket to catch up. It was a clear night as we arrived in Bramford at about 6:45. We could see Chris the drum parked up outside - and the place was open! After a bit of juggling we got parked up close enough to the entrance and started the load in. By the time all our gear was in Chris the drum was set up, but then he had to move it forward to make room for the back line. Set up went well until I looked round for my mic stand. Shock horror - I had forgotten both it and the guitar stand. Nephew in law Simon had helped me load and I was so busy telling him everything had a place, and by doing it that way I knew everything was aboard that I then went and forgot the stands - doh! I went back out to the car and retrieved the spare mic stand. Chris the bass kindly offered to let me use his boom stand and he would use the spare straight stand.
It all sounded good and Chris the drum did a couple of loud runs round the kit to see how the sound meter responded. Chris the bass took some of the boom out the bass and, as I strummed in keeping a respectable volume, we seemed to be just clipping the red and there was no hint of feedback - so: 'good enough for rock n roll' I declared as we omitted a formal sound check. The venue was filling up quickly and as we went to get changed there were only a few spare tables left. And as we came out for an 8:30 start even they were filled! Tracey the governess was just completing some club announcements as we took our places. It seems there were a few birthdays and Pearl was having a bit of a do at the club! Tracey announced the band and we set off into F B I. Maybe I was a bit stiff on the guitar but overall it sounded good and got a great reception as we finished. Before we got on with our show we did a couple of rounds of "Happy Birthday" and that set a relaxed vibe, because when we did get going with "Heartbeat" it was well together and the floor filled with dancers. We finished to a very warm response so I introduced the band. We were wearing our poppies, but Chris the drum had a small tie pin version. So as I introed the band I mentioned Remembrance Sunday and Chris the bass and myself posed our poppies forward; then I pointed back at Chris the drum and said 'he's only got a little one'. He posed his tie forward. Of course this innuendo generated a big audience response and I did repeat the joke a couple of times later as the evening progressed. But now we had to play some more music. I had briefed the boys in the dressing room to expect some changes to the flow and I chose the Everlys "Walk Right Back" next. This really suited the dancers and I carried on into "When Will I Be Loved" to keep it going. Next up I had teed the boys up to drop in a waltz "My Only Possession" and this went really well considering we only ever ran it through a couple of times in the early days. The dance floor was so busy I did an instrumental round as well - just strumming the chords. I was well pleased with the way we had done this - the boys in the rhythm section had come on a lot over the last few months to be able to do things without warning. They looked ready for another slowey so I called for "Groovy Kind of Love" and, considering we haven't played it for a while we did a good job and it went well down well as well. I took things back on track for a well received and danced to rock n roll section with "Rock Around the Clock into Alright Mama". Then we did the two Chris intro songs "Act Naturally" which was surprisingly well received and "Ring of Fire" which went down very well. Chris advised we were getting on time wise so I skipped my intro song and went straight to the Beatles routine. The wigging up hasn't changed much over the years but it still gets a good laugh and we played the two songs well and continued to keep the audiences attention and dancing! Next I took us through our tribute to the Searchers. I usually get the audience to guess the name of the band I am 'searching' to remember and they did. We played it pretty well and I was fairly pleased with the transition from "Sugar n Spice" into "Needles and Pins" with the exception of Chris the drums strangely timed accents (I have since asked Chris the bass to look Chris the drum in the eye and conduct with his bass neck to get it right). But the audience clearly enjoyed the sequence and, as we finished, a chap came out of the dance floor specially to say to us: well done for a great tribute medley! After "Halfway to Paradise" we had run out of time so we finished with "All Shook Up" to an enthusiastic reception. A very good first set!
We came back on for set 2 and I did the Shads walk for "Apache" to entertain the audience. Chris built it up a bit saying 'it would be a risky dance demonstration 'cos of his sciatica' While I was out I could gauge the sound and it was good. Excellent balance with solid bass and drums underpinning a sparkly guitar sound and even a dose of smooth strings at the end fitting into the soundscape nicely. I was very pleased. We carried on through our normal set 2 with "Do You Wanna Dance - Happy Together - Daydream Believer - Delilah" and got them singing along, dancing and applauding just great. I sensed we needed a slowey so I called for "Albatross". We havn't played it for a while but it sounded good, no errors and we all finished together - and well received! Next I did a dedication to the fruit machines near the bar by performing "Penny Arcade". We played well and the audience loved it. Some of the dancers even seemed to have a routine worked out to do the pace changes. I took the band on through a little rock n roll section with "Move It" but hit a glitch with my pedal right at the start. If you tread on two switches together by accident it starts recording (and not changing the FX). The reliable way to get rid of this is to reboot which does take 30 seconds or so. So Chris the bass bantered away about it until we could get going. Then the dance floor filled. We took them on through "Summertime Blues as normal and then "Rip it Up". I tend to let Chris the drum go with the flow in this nowadays 'cos I can't get him to remember the jungle beat under the verses that I prefer. Next was "Proud Mary" which I was pleased to get right after a few gigs where Chris and I were at odds on the arrangement. With time racing away we carried on with the "Hot Love - East Anglia Girls" sequence successfully (but still a bit ragged and rushed on the latter) and kept the dance floor busy. One couple of a certain age I spotted had danced energetically through out the whole set. But now it was time to finish - with "American Trilogy" and this went down just great. A really strong audience response put the sound meter into the red! A good second set!
We got changed into the white Ts and black waistcoats and came back on after the raffle to start with "Dance the Night Away" for a change. That got 'em all up dancing again and we continued with "Saw Her Standing There". It was approaching 11pm as we took them through the sing-a-long party dance sequence and the audience had thinned a little, but the crowd still sang along enthusiastically and the stalwarts were still dancing. We finished the sequence with "Hi Ho" to avoid the soft rock 'hardness' (and volume) of "All Right Now" and we brought forward "Make It Through The Night" to be a mid-set slowey. Once again the slowey filled the floor and I felt obliged to follow up with another so we embarked on "Wonderful Tonight". On both these songs I had thought Chris the bass and myself were at odds on what I thought were semi-tone starting run downs; but we checked it in the week and all was fine so it must have been a bit of dodgy tuning? Next up was a slow paced version of "Mustang Sally" to get them moving again. Then we rocked out "Hippy Hippy Shake" before calling "Johnny B Goode" as our last number - mentioning that we were over time so it would be our last. And it was, there wasn't much call for the encore - we were about 10 minutes over time as we finished. It had been another good set and several people came up at the end to thank us, including Pearl the birthday girl. Got changed, packed and loaded still feeling good about the night's work. Then it was a half hour run home for cocoa and toast before bed. Chris the bass and I had a session in the week to correct some errors and sort out arrangements for some new material. But now we have a couple of weekends off to enjoy.
It all sounded good and Chris the drum did a couple of loud runs round the kit to see how the sound meter responded. Chris the bass took some of the boom out the bass and, as I strummed in keeping a respectable volume, we seemed to be just clipping the red and there was no hint of feedback - so: 'good enough for rock n roll' I declared as we omitted a formal sound check. The venue was filling up quickly and as we went to get changed there were only a few spare tables left. And as we came out for an 8:30 start even they were filled! Tracey the governess was just completing some club announcements as we took our places. It seems there were a few birthdays and Pearl was having a bit of a do at the club! Tracey announced the band and we set off into F B I. Maybe I was a bit stiff on the guitar but overall it sounded good and got a great reception as we finished. Before we got on with our show we did a couple of rounds of "Happy Birthday" and that set a relaxed vibe, because when we did get going with "Heartbeat" it was well together and the floor filled with dancers. We finished to a very warm response so I introduced the band. We were wearing our poppies, but Chris the drum had a small tie pin version. So as I introed the band I mentioned Remembrance Sunday and Chris the bass and myself posed our poppies forward; then I pointed back at Chris the drum and said 'he's only got a little one'. He posed his tie forward. Of course this innuendo generated a big audience response and I did repeat the joke a couple of times later as the evening progressed. But now we had to play some more music. I had briefed the boys in the dressing room to expect some changes to the flow and I chose the Everlys "Walk Right Back" next. This really suited the dancers and I carried on into "When Will I Be Loved" to keep it going. Next up I had teed the boys up to drop in a waltz "My Only Possession" and this went really well considering we only ever ran it through a couple of times in the early days. The dance floor was so busy I did an instrumental round as well - just strumming the chords. I was well pleased with the way we had done this - the boys in the rhythm section had come on a lot over the last few months to be able to do things without warning. They looked ready for another slowey so I called for "Groovy Kind of Love" and, considering we haven't played it for a while we did a good job and it went well down well as well. I took things back on track for a well received and danced to rock n roll section with "Rock Around the Clock into Alright Mama". Then we did the two Chris intro songs "Act Naturally" which was surprisingly well received and "Ring of Fire" which went down very well. Chris advised we were getting on time wise so I skipped my intro song and went straight to the Beatles routine. The wigging up hasn't changed much over the years but it still gets a good laugh and we played the two songs well and continued to keep the audiences attention and dancing! Next I took us through our tribute to the Searchers. I usually get the audience to guess the name of the band I am 'searching' to remember and they did. We played it pretty well and I was fairly pleased with the transition from "Sugar n Spice" into "Needles and Pins" with the exception of Chris the drums strangely timed accents (I have since asked Chris the bass to look Chris the drum in the eye and conduct with his bass neck to get it right). But the audience clearly enjoyed the sequence and, as we finished, a chap came out of the dance floor specially to say to us: well done for a great tribute medley! After "Halfway to Paradise" we had run out of time so we finished with "All Shook Up" to an enthusiastic reception. A very good first set!
We came back on for set 2 and I did the Shads walk for "Apache" to entertain the audience. Chris built it up a bit saying 'it would be a risky dance demonstration 'cos of his sciatica' While I was out I could gauge the sound and it was good. Excellent balance with solid bass and drums underpinning a sparkly guitar sound and even a dose of smooth strings at the end fitting into the soundscape nicely. I was very pleased. We carried on through our normal set 2 with "Do You Wanna Dance - Happy Together - Daydream Believer - Delilah" and got them singing along, dancing and applauding just great. I sensed we needed a slowey so I called for "Albatross". We havn't played it for a while but it sounded good, no errors and we all finished together - and well received! Next I did a dedication to the fruit machines near the bar by performing "Penny Arcade". We played well and the audience loved it. Some of the dancers even seemed to have a routine worked out to do the pace changes. I took the band on through a little rock n roll section with "Move It" but hit a glitch with my pedal right at the start. If you tread on two switches together by accident it starts recording (and not changing the FX). The reliable way to get rid of this is to reboot which does take 30 seconds or so. So Chris the bass bantered away about it until we could get going. Then the dance floor filled. We took them on through "Summertime Blues as normal and then "Rip it Up". I tend to let Chris the drum go with the flow in this nowadays 'cos I can't get him to remember the jungle beat under the verses that I prefer. Next was "Proud Mary" which I was pleased to get right after a few gigs where Chris and I were at odds on the arrangement. With time racing away we carried on with the "Hot Love - East Anglia Girls" sequence successfully (but still a bit ragged and rushed on the latter) and kept the dance floor busy. One couple of a certain age I spotted had danced energetically through out the whole set. But now it was time to finish - with "American Trilogy" and this went down just great. A really strong audience response put the sound meter into the red! A good second set!
We got changed into the white Ts and black waistcoats and came back on after the raffle to start with "Dance the Night Away" for a change. That got 'em all up dancing again and we continued with "Saw Her Standing There". It was approaching 11pm as we took them through the sing-a-long party dance sequence and the audience had thinned a little, but the crowd still sang along enthusiastically and the stalwarts were still dancing. We finished the sequence with "Hi Ho" to avoid the soft rock 'hardness' (and volume) of "All Right Now" and we brought forward "Make It Through The Night" to be a mid-set slowey. Once again the slowey filled the floor and I felt obliged to follow up with another so we embarked on "Wonderful Tonight". On both these songs I had thought Chris the bass and myself were at odds on what I thought were semi-tone starting run downs; but we checked it in the week and all was fine so it must have been a bit of dodgy tuning? Next up was a slow paced version of "Mustang Sally" to get them moving again. Then we rocked out "Hippy Hippy Shake" before calling "Johnny B Goode" as our last number - mentioning that we were over time so it would be our last. And it was, there wasn't much call for the encore - we were about 10 minutes over time as we finished. It had been another good set and several people came up at the end to thank us, including Pearl the birthday girl. Got changed, packed and loaded still feeling good about the night's work. Then it was a half hour run home for cocoa and toast before bed. Chris the bass and I had a session in the week to correct some errors and sort out arrangements for some new material. But now we have a couple of weekends off to enjoy.
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