We had got back from a successful but exhausting family trip to Belgium on the Sunday and I was back to work on Monday. Chris popped round mid week to check I would be OK for the return trip to gig at Searles on the Saturday. The new singer Steve was pre-committed so we would be doing it as a trio. My voice was a lot better but I still suffering the back end of a minor chest infection - I thought I'd be fine by Saturday.
On the day I was about 95% match fit and set off at 5:30pm in the rain - a cool evening after the thundery warmth the previous day. With a good run over I arrived just after Chris who was getting the trolley organised. We shifted the gear in in the rain. Ian / Sharon arrived while we were finishing so the trolley was immediately available.
We are well used to setting up here and the only incident was Ian needing to do a Meccano style repair on his snare drum where something had worked loose. Setting the PA up, I gave a bit more volume to my mic than the previous visit to allow me some scope for easing back on my first long singing night in a while. With everything working we had best part of an hour to while away to show time at 9pm. I got a round in - the young chap serving was from med school in Cardiff where he was training to be an Army medic. What a good fellow - I bought him a drink! The room gradually filled up, it was about 80 % full by the time we went to get changed. We returned to start and we opened with "FBI". I introduced the band; Chris had forgotten his hat so I made a joke of that as I put mine on to "hide the lack of hair" and we got underway with "Heartbeat" to commence a typical set 1. The audience were appreciative and growing as we played through an "ever so slightly nervy" set. The sound was good and there was plenty of headroom on my mic so I didn't have to push hard vocally. My banter was on good form. No dancing as such but lots of warm applause and bits of laughter e.g. for the Beatles wigs (I even gave Ian one this night). And really good audience sing-a-long as we got to final few numbers. They did most of the 'All Shook Up's and, as we finished with "Wonder of You", they joined in enthusiastically which was helpful 'cos my voice was struggling on the harder projection numbers. As we took our break and a chap came over to request "Penny Arcade" for Maureen which I said I'd be delighted to do.
We made a bigger build up of the Shadows walk than usual and it was only as we got underway that I realised I hadn't set the 'Shads' sound on the FX. So I had to nimbly step back from the dance floor and then resume my posture for the dance. But once underway I posed, strutted and walked and we got a huge round of applause at the end. Chris did the right thing in taking up the announcement to credit me which gave me time to get back and reset for "Move It". We got underway with this a bit haphazardly - Ian and I got at cross purposes rhythm wise and it was only when I started singing that we got into onto the same beat. We proceeded on through the planned set until I did the request for "Penny Arcade". The audience were tapping along to the 2 beat sections and gave a good round of applause. Ian made a remark about us turning up in Lederhosen to do more of the oom pah beat next time which went down well. We did both the Creedance Clearwater songs but I found myself varying the arrangements on both - fortunately the guys followed me just fine! I think it is the absence of dancers that increases edginess on the faster numbers when you haven't got time to think about what's coming up. I tried a ballad in the form of "Rainin in My Heart". I found this hard going vocally because I needed a big cough and had to suppress because I couldn't fit it in until the solo. One couple came up to dance which was good and so we in the band applauded them at the end. We finished the set with "Hot Love - East Anglia Girls". This time it went as well as I could hope. The band got the key transition to East Anglian Girls. I got my "Florida -Hawaii- East Anglia?" tag line in well (and without echo) and then we got underway with the song proper in good form. Chris lost his way on the bass on the first line and towards the end, but not that noticeable and, hooray, Chris and Ian both joined on the chorus. Ian treated us to a tight end as we finished with an extended 'girls-----' And we got a great response from the crowd who had clearly got the joke!
The audience thinned out a little as we took our break. It was a few minutes after 11pm as we resumed to my favoured Searles announcement about Ian leading a conga into the Wash when we finish at 2 am! And off we went with our usual set 3. We finally got some dance action with "Dance the Night Away" and at the end of the long sequence to "Another Brick In the Wall" (where I did a good take on the solo for a change), one of the dancers requested a 'Quo' song. Off we went straight into "Caroline". Wisely, Ian set the beat a little slower than the record and folks were able to do the Quo dance to it. We improvised the ending, I do know the Quo end, but 'cos we hadn't done it for a while I wasn't confident and had to slur the notes to the tight finish. But it worked and dancers and listeners were happy. We kept them dancing with an extended 'all the ladies sing' "Mustang Sally". Again we got into a confusion on beat at the start and it was only when I started singing that we tightened up. But once underway it went well. We did get the ladies in the audience singing the 'ride sally rides' and Ian joined is as well. I indicated a solo was called for and the boys followed me through a spikey 12 bar. Chris indicated last number at the end and I announced "Johnny B Goode". We got off to a good start at the right pace, the floor filled and we did all of our outro's in a professional way. A great finish to a good night. There were a lot of shouts for 'more' - but we had to politely decline on the basis the management had given us strict instructions to finish at 11:45pm. We got several compliments as we left the room to get changed - on my return in civvies the bar was still buzzing and I overheard one fellow telling his mate how brilliant it was they had found this live music bar on the site with such a good band. The young medic to be behind the bar came over and said he loved the old music and had been singing along with us as he was serving!
But now we had to get on with pack, load and drive home. We were all in a good mood as we packed and Sharon was as well. She said the band had been very good and she had had an enjoyable night. She even helped with a bit of roadetting as she helped Chris with his speakers off the stage!!! The security guys are keen to get it all closed down as soon as possible. Just for the record I note that after midnight they start to close the toilets down so you need to get in for a last wee quickly! The lights went off behind us as we got the gear off the trolley and into the cars. I had a moment when I couldn't find my keys in my pocket. Theorising they must have fallen out in the suit bag I found them in there before panic set in. Ian and Sharon boarded their taxi and then it was a steady drive home for me and Chris. I got in at 1:45am tired but happy from the nights work.
On the day I was about 95% match fit and set off at 5:30pm in the rain - a cool evening after the thundery warmth the previous day. With a good run over I arrived just after Chris who was getting the trolley organised. We shifted the gear in in the rain. Ian / Sharon arrived while we were finishing so the trolley was immediately available.
We are well used to setting up here and the only incident was Ian needing to do a Meccano style repair on his snare drum where something had worked loose. Setting the PA up, I gave a bit more volume to my mic than the previous visit to allow me some scope for easing back on my first long singing night in a while. With everything working we had best part of an hour to while away to show time at 9pm. I got a round in - the young chap serving was from med school in Cardiff where he was training to be an Army medic. What a good fellow - I bought him a drink! The room gradually filled up, it was about 80 % full by the time we went to get changed. We returned to start and we opened with "FBI". I introduced the band; Chris had forgotten his hat so I made a joke of that as I put mine on to "hide the lack of hair" and we got underway with "Heartbeat" to commence a typical set 1. The audience were appreciative and growing as we played through an "ever so slightly nervy" set. The sound was good and there was plenty of headroom on my mic so I didn't have to push hard vocally. My banter was on good form. No dancing as such but lots of warm applause and bits of laughter e.g. for the Beatles wigs (I even gave Ian one this night). And really good audience sing-a-long as we got to final few numbers. They did most of the 'All Shook Up's and, as we finished with "Wonder of You", they joined in enthusiastically which was helpful 'cos my voice was struggling on the harder projection numbers. As we took our break and a chap came over to request "Penny Arcade" for Maureen which I said I'd be delighted to do.
We made a bigger build up of the Shadows walk than usual and it was only as we got underway that I realised I hadn't set the 'Shads' sound on the FX. So I had to nimbly step back from the dance floor and then resume my posture for the dance. But once underway I posed, strutted and walked and we got a huge round of applause at the end. Chris did the right thing in taking up the announcement to credit me which gave me time to get back and reset for "Move It". We got underway with this a bit haphazardly - Ian and I got at cross purposes rhythm wise and it was only when I started singing that we got into onto the same beat. We proceeded on through the planned set until I did the request for "Penny Arcade". The audience were tapping along to the 2 beat sections and gave a good round of applause. Ian made a remark about us turning up in Lederhosen to do more of the oom pah beat next time which went down well. We did both the Creedance Clearwater songs but I found myself varying the arrangements on both - fortunately the guys followed me just fine! I think it is the absence of dancers that increases edginess on the faster numbers when you haven't got time to think about what's coming up. I tried a ballad in the form of "Rainin in My Heart". I found this hard going vocally because I needed a big cough and had to suppress because I couldn't fit it in until the solo. One couple came up to dance which was good and so we in the band applauded them at the end. We finished the set with "Hot Love - East Anglia Girls". This time it went as well as I could hope. The band got the key transition to East Anglian Girls. I got my "Florida -Hawaii- East Anglia?" tag line in well (and without echo) and then we got underway with the song proper in good form. Chris lost his way on the bass on the first line and towards the end, but not that noticeable and, hooray, Chris and Ian both joined on the chorus. Ian treated us to a tight end as we finished with an extended 'girls-----' And we got a great response from the crowd who had clearly got the joke!
The audience thinned out a little as we took our break. It was a few minutes after 11pm as we resumed to my favoured Searles announcement about Ian leading a conga into the Wash when we finish at 2 am! And off we went with our usual set 3. We finally got some dance action with "Dance the Night Away" and at the end of the long sequence to "Another Brick In the Wall" (where I did a good take on the solo for a change), one of the dancers requested a 'Quo' song. Off we went straight into "Caroline". Wisely, Ian set the beat a little slower than the record and folks were able to do the Quo dance to it. We improvised the ending, I do know the Quo end, but 'cos we hadn't done it for a while I wasn't confident and had to slur the notes to the tight finish. But it worked and dancers and listeners were happy. We kept them dancing with an extended 'all the ladies sing' "Mustang Sally". Again we got into a confusion on beat at the start and it was only when I started singing that we tightened up. But once underway it went well. We did get the ladies in the audience singing the 'ride sally rides' and Ian joined is as well. I indicated a solo was called for and the boys followed me through a spikey 12 bar. Chris indicated last number at the end and I announced "Johnny B Goode". We got off to a good start at the right pace, the floor filled and we did all of our outro's in a professional way. A great finish to a good night. There were a lot of shouts for 'more' - but we had to politely decline on the basis the management had given us strict instructions to finish at 11:45pm. We got several compliments as we left the room to get changed - on my return in civvies the bar was still buzzing and I overheard one fellow telling his mate how brilliant it was they had found this live music bar on the site with such a good band. The young medic to be behind the bar came over and said he loved the old music and had been singing along with us as he was serving!
But now we had to get on with pack, load and drive home. We were all in a good mood as we packed and Sharon was as well. She said the band had been very good and she had had an enjoyable night. She even helped with a bit of roadetting as she helped Chris with his speakers off the stage!!! The security guys are keen to get it all closed down as soon as possible. Just for the record I note that after midnight they start to close the toilets down so you need to get in for a last wee quickly! The lights went off behind us as we got the gear off the trolley and into the cars. I had a moment when I couldn't find my keys in my pocket. Theorising they must have fallen out in the suit bag I found them in there before panic set in. Ian and Sharon boarded their taxi and then it was a steady drive home for me and Chris. I got in at 1:45am tired but happy from the nights work.
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