I set off at 5:40 to join Chris's convoy to the gig. We met up OK but Ian had to get petrol so he said he'd see us there and off we went. Smooth run on a nice day and we parked up in the club car park at 6:20pm. It turned out we had parked close to a fire exit which was our easy load in route to the performance area immediately the other side of the doors facing a good sized dance floor. The performance space was awkward for a live band with the drummer having to sit back in the alcove leading to the fire doors and us two guitar players spilling onto the dance floor - but I've seen worse. We put my Bose back in the alcove and the one on Chris's side out front where a normal PA would sit - we had both foldback and projection from these site-ings. When I got it all powered up I was surprised by the lack of volume and I had to go through the mixer settings to correct some 'on the fly' changes I had made at the previous gig. Once sorted feedback head room wasn't great - but, looking at the club, I thought we wouldn't want to be too loud anyway. All that took time and we only had 30 mins or so to have a drink before show time at 8:30pm. Yvonne from the club introduced herself and asked us to plan our sets to make space for a raffle and bingo at 10pm. We had Bridget and Sharon there in support and Chris had asked a prospective singer, Steve from Stowmarket, to come along and try out on a few numbers. He looked through our set and picked a few out so we drew up a micro set of 5 numbers he could do in the middle of the evening. He is a nice chap, had been doing solo work and seemed easy to get on with.
We went and got changed into our smart black and whites and took our places for the off with the usual show start. A good sound where I was, we got a good reception from the off and as soon as we got into "Heartbeat" the dance floor filled. I skipped the slow intro to "Smiling" and kept them dancing. We did our "Hound Dog" intro and that went well, but the dancing diminished. they came back for "Alright Mama" but we lost them with "Rock Clock". It dawned on me that this audience were of a certain age and liked to dance to medium paced stuff, so I started to get Ian to hold the pace back on the faster ones. That worked: we kept the dance floor busy through the rest of the set and got good applause throughout - with the bantering succeeding as well we were having a good night at 'our kind of club'!
After the break we did a few numbers from set 2 before bringing Steve up. I had set up my spare OM6 mic for him and I checked all was working before introducing him as a special guest singer for the evening. We opened his set with "Dance the Night Away". He has a good voice and is easy to perform with. I was able to sing the hi harmony gently in the background as we played it through close to the record arrangement and then got a great response as we finished. Next up was "Folsom Prison". I hadn't done this for a while but again we got through in good order and, once again, we kept the dance floor busy with this country train rhythm. He sang it well and the next song showed he could sing high as well. An odd choice but he had gone for "Nights in White Satin". We hadn't done this for a while either and I warned Steve we might not follow the arrangement as per the record, He was happy with that so off we went. He did sing it well and after a while I was able to bring in the very hi harmony lines in the chorus. The crowd were happy to do a slow dance and we played it well considering. We hummed our way (a bit erratically) through the solo. Our arrangement ended up shorter than the record but at least the band crescendo'd together as we finished to a relatively rapturous reception. Steve continued with good performances of "Johnny B Goode and Bad Moon Rising" and left us to a well earned applause. He did do well and will suit the band I'm sure. We continued with some more of our set to the 10pm gameshow slot. They ended up borrowing one of our mics for that 'cos theirs was on the blink.
After the raffle and bingo we got underway with "Hot Love" missed out earlier and then into the remnants of our set 3. Once we got going with "Pretty Woman" we carried on as usual without a break right through to "All Right Now" and kept the dancing going remarkably well. I chose to do "Love is All Around" as the mid set slowey and, although I hadn't sung it with the band before, it worked very well and filled the floor. As I announced "Saw Her Standing There" I mentioned to Ian that it was a straight beat - he said he had got songs mixed up last time out - but on this night it was fine. On we went with some more dancey rocky numbers like "Hippy Shakes" and still going down well. Even as we approached 11:30 there was still as good crowd and many had kept dancing throughout the night. We signed off with "Wonderful Tonight" which got a very good reception and big applause as we finished. So we did do our encore. My quip was 'I thought we were playing a Conservative club? But you lot were "Born to Be Wild"'. Off we went into a loose but effective version that rounded the night off really well. At the end Yvonne asked to borrow a mic to thank the audience and band for the evening and we got a huge round of applause from the remaining crowd.
As we came off Steve said what a great last number that was and he loved the sound. Chris and he went into a huddle to try and establish a way forward and I dealt with Yvonne who had come over to say what a brilliant night they had had and could she re-book. All in all it had been an unexpectedly good night and we were well pleased as we packed up. There is a slight reserved atmosphere with my leaving the band hanging over things, but I really couldn't ask for a better outcome than the amicable, professional way we are dealing with this whilst still performing well. An uneventful run home. I had to be unloaded and up early the next day to go to Manchester to pick Jacqui up from her baby sitting duties.
We went and got changed into our smart black and whites and took our places for the off with the usual show start. A good sound where I was, we got a good reception from the off and as soon as we got into "Heartbeat" the dance floor filled. I skipped the slow intro to "Smiling" and kept them dancing. We did our "Hound Dog" intro and that went well, but the dancing diminished. they came back for "Alright Mama" but we lost them with "Rock Clock". It dawned on me that this audience were of a certain age and liked to dance to medium paced stuff, so I started to get Ian to hold the pace back on the faster ones. That worked: we kept the dance floor busy through the rest of the set and got good applause throughout - with the bantering succeeding as well we were having a good night at 'our kind of club'!
After the break we did a few numbers from set 2 before bringing Steve up. I had set up my spare OM6 mic for him and I checked all was working before introducing him as a special guest singer for the evening. We opened his set with "Dance the Night Away". He has a good voice and is easy to perform with. I was able to sing the hi harmony gently in the background as we played it through close to the record arrangement and then got a great response as we finished. Next up was "Folsom Prison". I hadn't done this for a while but again we got through in good order and, once again, we kept the dance floor busy with this country train rhythm. He sang it well and the next song showed he could sing high as well. An odd choice but he had gone for "Nights in White Satin". We hadn't done this for a while either and I warned Steve we might not follow the arrangement as per the record, He was happy with that so off we went. He did sing it well and after a while I was able to bring in the very hi harmony lines in the chorus. The crowd were happy to do a slow dance and we played it well considering. We hummed our way (a bit erratically) through the solo. Our arrangement ended up shorter than the record but at least the band crescendo'd together as we finished to a relatively rapturous reception. Steve continued with good performances of "Johnny B Goode and Bad Moon Rising" and left us to a well earned applause. He did do well and will suit the band I'm sure. We continued with some more of our set to the 10pm gameshow slot. They ended up borrowing one of our mics for that 'cos theirs was on the blink.
After the raffle and bingo we got underway with "Hot Love" missed out earlier and then into the remnants of our set 3. Once we got going with "Pretty Woman" we carried on as usual without a break right through to "All Right Now" and kept the dancing going remarkably well. I chose to do "Love is All Around" as the mid set slowey and, although I hadn't sung it with the band before, it worked very well and filled the floor. As I announced "Saw Her Standing There" I mentioned to Ian that it was a straight beat - he said he had got songs mixed up last time out - but on this night it was fine. On we went with some more dancey rocky numbers like "Hippy Shakes" and still going down well. Even as we approached 11:30 there was still as good crowd and many had kept dancing throughout the night. We signed off with "Wonderful Tonight" which got a very good reception and big applause as we finished. So we did do our encore. My quip was 'I thought we were playing a Conservative club? But you lot were "Born to Be Wild"'. Off we went into a loose but effective version that rounded the night off really well. At the end Yvonne asked to borrow a mic to thank the audience and band for the evening and we got a huge round of applause from the remaining crowd.
As we came off Steve said what a great last number that was and he loved the sound. Chris and he went into a huddle to try and establish a way forward and I dealt with Yvonne who had come over to say what a brilliant night they had had and could she re-book. All in all it had been an unexpectedly good night and we were well pleased as we packed up. There is a slight reserved atmosphere with my leaving the band hanging over things, but I really couldn't ask for a better outcome than the amicable, professional way we are dealing with this whilst still performing well. An uneventful run home. I had to be unloaded and up early the next day to go to Manchester to pick Jacqui up from her baby sitting duties.
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