Good job Chris reminded me about this gig 'cos I had completely forgotten it was coming up and on a Monday I usually have a long day at work. I was able to cut work short and got home at 1:30pm to find Jacqui was out lunching with the sewing ladies. But she had kindly left me a shepherds pie dinner so I could have my main meal at lunch and the pack up bag of sandwiches in the fridge was for later for on the road. She was back in time to say goodbye! I set off at 4:58 to try and avoid the traffic that builds up at 5pm. I made the tactical decision to head out on the A143 to take the Garboldisham route to the A11 rather than the usual run through Thetford. This was a good decision as Chris later reported traffic was bad in Thetford and he had to take the Nun's bridges rat run through to the A11. After Norwich I found I was running well on time on a cool but sunny evening and I eased up for the last 9 miles to Hemsby. Arrived at the gig and found the Harlequinn ballroom down near reception. Some young ladies from entertainments directed me back through the car park to the back for load in. I had just got back to the car when Chris and Ian arrived with Bridget and Sharon in tow. We did a bit of carobatics to turn round and head back to the car park. Then left at the 'deliveries only' sign and run all the way down to the back entrance to the ballroom. Chris undid a safety barrier that prevents people falling down the big step onto the dance floor and then we were able to make a short load in and on to the stage. Quite a large stage but I had to shift the bingo table to develop enough room to fit my stuff in. It is quite a long hall - the audience sits at the far end and dances on the big floor in front of the band. Similar to the previous gig we set one Bose up out front to project into the audience. This set up is now our preferred method. Can't think why we didn't try it in the past - my natural conservatism I suppose? We were set up with a few minutes left to check things were working before the bingo started.
Whilst we were having a beer Steve arrived with his stuff. Chris and I discussed with him how we would set him up. In the end we agreed he should concentrate on vocals and we would set his Tanglewood acoustic up through the PA on low volume so he could play along or not as he felt it. We got changed ready for a quick start after the bingo. Then I simply plugged Steve's guitar into the spare MP3 input and boosted the pre-amp a few dB 'till we got a reasonable level. I had already set up the spare OM6 mic for him so it we were all ready to rock!
A couple of minutes later we were underway with FBI. It was good to see Steve doing a few Shads moves to it as he strummed along and we finished to good applause from the over 60's audience. Good on stage sound if quite loud. After "Heartbeat" we carried on with Steve doing most of the vocal duties on a set he and Chris had drawn up. Early on we came across their choice of ballad: "Nights in White Satin". We did OK just losing the way a little in the flute solo which we 'da da da-ad' We recovered from that to do the repeat verse (like the record) and a real big ending courtesy of Ian. It did get a good reception. Couple of newbies in there that I coped well enough with e.g. "Stand By Me" - fortunately in the same key we do it in the Checkmates so I was able to rattle my usual solo out to it. We did get a few dancers up most of the time and the audience clapped every number. Steve did a good job singing many of the numbers I had been doing - but he introduced a few minor arrangement differences which we just played along with. A high pitched feedback developed a few numbers in and I had to reduce the PA volume - it was quite loud! Later when I was able to look at it properly I realised I had set Steve's mic too loud compared to the rest. He has a powerful voice anyway so it would have been no bad thing to sort this at the beginning. But, hey ho, these are the things you learn as you begin to work with a new member. We finished with "Brown Eyed Girl" in the original key of G rather than the F I was more used to. But apart from a fluff on the guitar intro it went very well and we finished to a strong reception as the Entertainments manager outroduced us.
Then there was a long break for us (about an hour) while the entertainments staff put on their singing and dance show. Really very good ! We could see they had put a lot of work into it. There were 3 chaps and 3 young ladies; they all got to sing and dance in a continuous show with lots of costume changes.
We resumed about 10:30pm. I plugged in a long lead so I could go out front for a Shads walk. I was able to go a long way out and strut my stuff. The band balance was very good and not too loud. I got as far as halfway down the hall and it was a perfect level. The guitar sound was good and dominant, but not quite as 'shiny' as on stage. This could be down to the panning of guitar away from the front of house projection Bose on Chris's side which I had set up for when they were both behind us. It was very well received with lots of warm applause (as it has been recently at most gigs). We played on through a Steve and Chris's choice for the set. Steve's choice of "Save the Last Dance" came early in the set and I was able to busk that happily in E - I added some harmoniser backing vocals which filled it out nicely. I came to grief shortly after in "Hippy Shakes" which I was singing. Somehow I brushed the off switch on the long guitar lead. I had done this several months previously at a Bury gig so should have remembered quicker, but it took most of a verse for me to find the switch whilst singing and get it back on just in time for the solo! We played on. Another newbie was "Lets Work Together" an old Canned Heat 12 bar with Steve playing quite a decent mouth organ solo on. Ian got a tight beat going at the right pace and it went very well. As we approached the end of the set Chris called for "Hi Ho Silver Lining". It was written in key of A in the set list. This is the key I had been doing it in but, as we got underway, Steve sang it in another key. There followed a period of complete confusion with Chris dropping to G while I searched around C and D for Steve's key. I eventually worked out he was in D but couldn't get Chris to move from G. Ian wisely brought it to an end and we moved on quickly to "Alright Now" with me singing. That went well and then (well over time) Chris announced Johnny B Goode as our last number. A good choice - we did really well with it! With Steve singing I was able to concentrate on guitar and Ian set a cracking pace. Steve did all 3 verses before I was able to lead the band through shorter outroductions than normal. I now outro Chris by saying. "Ladies and gents he's been showing off his big round bottom all night (bass sound I mean) big hand for Chris on bass!" Then for Ian "He's been rattling his pots and pans for you all evening - its Ian on drums" Then I did a big hand for Steve on vocals and harp. He then outro'd me and we went straight into the J B Goode intro solo followed by one round of chorus and Ian's massively big finish to this which adds at least 30 secs to the piece. Finally, the entertainments manager outroduced the whole band as we waved to the audience. He wisely suppressed any call for an encore and we were done. All very professional I thought. Overall I would say we weren't as slick as on Saturday and the sound was a little rougher - but we had had a good time with a kind of end of term atmos emerging. Chris showed me some complimentary email remarks from the agent on our performance at Hunstanton on the Saturday which was good to see confirming my perception that we connected really well with the audience that night.
Pack and load was hard going with it being so soon after the Saturday gig. Steve is a most helpful chap and insisted on bringing my gear out. He thanked me (genuinely) for my big effort to make it all work on the night and asked again why I was leaving. I stuck to my line about it all getting too much but I did mention I wouldn't give up completely e.g. continuing with the Checkmates a few gigs a year. Good run home getting in about 1:30 am - really tired the next day though. Looking forward to what I think will be my last gig with ReTrio on Saturday at Bottisham. Steve is pre-committed so we are back to a trio for that I suppose.
Whilst we were having a beer Steve arrived with his stuff. Chris and I discussed with him how we would set him up. In the end we agreed he should concentrate on vocals and we would set his Tanglewood acoustic up through the PA on low volume so he could play along or not as he felt it. We got changed ready for a quick start after the bingo. Then I simply plugged Steve's guitar into the spare MP3 input and boosted the pre-amp a few dB 'till we got a reasonable level. I had already set up the spare OM6 mic for him so it we were all ready to rock!
A couple of minutes later we were underway with FBI. It was good to see Steve doing a few Shads moves to it as he strummed along and we finished to good applause from the over 60's audience. Good on stage sound if quite loud. After "Heartbeat" we carried on with Steve doing most of the vocal duties on a set he and Chris had drawn up. Early on we came across their choice of ballad: "Nights in White Satin". We did OK just losing the way a little in the flute solo which we 'da da da-ad' We recovered from that to do the repeat verse (like the record) and a real big ending courtesy of Ian. It did get a good reception. Couple of newbies in there that I coped well enough with e.g. "Stand By Me" - fortunately in the same key we do it in the Checkmates so I was able to rattle my usual solo out to it. We did get a few dancers up most of the time and the audience clapped every number. Steve did a good job singing many of the numbers I had been doing - but he introduced a few minor arrangement differences which we just played along with. A high pitched feedback developed a few numbers in and I had to reduce the PA volume - it was quite loud! Later when I was able to look at it properly I realised I had set Steve's mic too loud compared to the rest. He has a powerful voice anyway so it would have been no bad thing to sort this at the beginning. But, hey ho, these are the things you learn as you begin to work with a new member. We finished with "Brown Eyed Girl" in the original key of G rather than the F I was more used to. But apart from a fluff on the guitar intro it went very well and we finished to a strong reception as the Entertainments manager outroduced us.
Then there was a long break for us (about an hour) while the entertainments staff put on their singing and dance show. Really very good ! We could see they had put a lot of work into it. There were 3 chaps and 3 young ladies; they all got to sing and dance in a continuous show with lots of costume changes.
We resumed about 10:30pm. I plugged in a long lead so I could go out front for a Shads walk. I was able to go a long way out and strut my stuff. The band balance was very good and not too loud. I got as far as halfway down the hall and it was a perfect level. The guitar sound was good and dominant, but not quite as 'shiny' as on stage. This could be down to the panning of guitar away from the front of house projection Bose on Chris's side which I had set up for when they were both behind us. It was very well received with lots of warm applause (as it has been recently at most gigs). We played on through a Steve and Chris's choice for the set. Steve's choice of "Save the Last Dance" came early in the set and I was able to busk that happily in E - I added some harmoniser backing vocals which filled it out nicely. I came to grief shortly after in "Hippy Shakes" which I was singing. Somehow I brushed the off switch on the long guitar lead. I had done this several months previously at a Bury gig so should have remembered quicker, but it took most of a verse for me to find the switch whilst singing and get it back on just in time for the solo! We played on. Another newbie was "Lets Work Together" an old Canned Heat 12 bar with Steve playing quite a decent mouth organ solo on. Ian got a tight beat going at the right pace and it went very well. As we approached the end of the set Chris called for "Hi Ho Silver Lining". It was written in key of A in the set list. This is the key I had been doing it in but, as we got underway, Steve sang it in another key. There followed a period of complete confusion with Chris dropping to G while I searched around C and D for Steve's key. I eventually worked out he was in D but couldn't get Chris to move from G. Ian wisely brought it to an end and we moved on quickly to "Alright Now" with me singing. That went well and then (well over time) Chris announced Johnny B Goode as our last number. A good choice - we did really well with it! With Steve singing I was able to concentrate on guitar and Ian set a cracking pace. Steve did all 3 verses before I was able to lead the band through shorter outroductions than normal. I now outro Chris by saying. "Ladies and gents he's been showing off his big round bottom all night (bass sound I mean) big hand for Chris on bass!" Then for Ian "He's been rattling his pots and pans for you all evening - its Ian on drums" Then I did a big hand for Steve on vocals and harp. He then outro'd me and we went straight into the J B Goode intro solo followed by one round of chorus and Ian's massively big finish to this which adds at least 30 secs to the piece. Finally, the entertainments manager outroduced the whole band as we waved to the audience. He wisely suppressed any call for an encore and we were done. All very professional I thought. Overall I would say we weren't as slick as on Saturday and the sound was a little rougher - but we had had a good time with a kind of end of term atmos emerging. Chris showed me some complimentary email remarks from the agent on our performance at Hunstanton on the Saturday which was good to see confirming my perception that we connected really well with the audience that night.
Pack and load was hard going with it being so soon after the Saturday gig. Steve is a most helpful chap and insisted on bringing my gear out. He thanked me (genuinely) for my big effort to make it all work on the night and asked again why I was leaving. I stuck to my line about it all getting too much but I did mention I wouldn't give up completely e.g. continuing with the Checkmates a few gigs a year. Good run home getting in about 1:30 am - really tired the next day though. Looking forward to what I think will be my last gig with ReTrio on Saturday at Bottisham. Steve is pre-committed so we are back to a trio for that I suppose.
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