Posted by Gareth on June 23, 2006, 9:57 pm Well here is my thoughts on last night. Nick decided to fake a trip to Greece and disguise himself as a member of the audience to see how the night went - and in his "absence" me Jay and Brad decided to share compere duties and create a chaotic style of compering that probably had the disguised Nick itching for the tambourine and wondering who was gonna come on next to introduce the next act! LOL I was first on - and as its me I can't be very objective about my spot but I really really enjoyed it and was pleased that lots of people that tried to make it mananged it - some really going out of their way in a big way so thanks for that loads! - My introductions must have been meandering rambles as I had to take 3 songs off my set at the end!! LOL (what's the point in timing it when you're gonna cut the songs anyway LOL) - although it may have also been me extending the ending of Lorelei but.... This is what I played (for anyone that knows the songs LOL) At Least it Should For All to See Trial By Tradition Will To Climb The Circle Its Good for You World Turned Upside Down Billy Austin By Choice Slogan Song Lorelei Green Fields of France Machismo - I left off Soil, Brilliant Fire and the Phil Ochs song I had spent the last few weeks learning because of time LOL - doh! A few things I can say about the set - I loved the fact that there were a few people often singing along to my songs - that's wonderful to see - and I really felt the silence of the audience during Billy Austin - I was "in the moment" during that one - also during "It's Good for You" and "Lorelei" really. NEXT UP was Ade Cull - I love this man's performance style, his chat with the audience, voice and general choice of material. He gave a cracking performance that some people may have missed as they were talking so much???!! - he really gave a fantastic performance that matches the other great gigs i've seen him do over the years - he could have been louder - but I said that during the soundcheck but with nobody else in the bar it seemed loud enough to to the other guys I guess LOL - but my favourite as always was Dancing Barefoot - love that song... After Ade's set we had the relay compering starting with Brad up first introducing Roscoe (from the Drift Bar) - he gave an excellent set of his own stuff - good to see him cross venues for us. Then Jay introduced Rory - he gave us two Zevon's - Piano Fighter (great stuff) and a blisteringly confident "Werewolves Of London" (so confident he didn't mind telling the audience he had forgotten a verse LOL) - with ALL the audience howling in response for the chorus. Classic. Then I introduced Leigh (as she suddenly appeared behind me!) - and she gave us two more beautiful performances - although on the second song she almost leapt on the hecklers (her best mates! LOL) - but yet again her beautiful voice shone through (despite my mistake of signalling to Jay to turn her up and therefore producing feedback during a song!!! So sorry Leigh!! My fault!!!!!) Jay introduced Chris then - apparently he hadnt been there for a while - he was really good - may have been his own songs - not sure... At this point, Del and Rhi started selling raffle tickets - that was a relief as up to that point we didn't have a volunteer LOL - and Brad introduced Mike - who came on with a tiny guitar, presumably lent to him by a pixie. He decided the pixie guitar was not right for him and switched to Rory's guitar, while Brad and I reminded everyone about the raffle. After Mike, I had the pleasure of introducing Karaoke John - a man i'm sure everyone were still talking about from last week - and he didn't disappoint. He really gave us another heartfelt performance. RAFFLE FRENZY WAS NEXT!!!! LOL - I call it that as we were feeling pressure to fit in people who had arrived during the course of Ade's set, and were worried about the time - so we thought the best way to do the raffle was to "blitz" it with all 3 of us calling the numbers! LOL - it was predictably chaotic - but a joy to be a part of LOL - I had to get advise from Jay about the colour of the ticket I was callling LOL - and me and Brad seemed to be drowning out Jay's more respectable calling LOL (I also enjoyed my "on its own 105" and "two fat ladies 257" etc LOL) - it was great, I think we got through all of the prizes in about a minute LOL (at one point the audience called out for us to slow down LOL) - so I think the raffle fans may be relieved to get Nick back! - someone else got a Terry Shulman that wasn't on my table too - so that was a blow. - so then I introduced Rich (my mate who has lovely photographs on his myspace page) and he had everyone singing both his songs (Damien Rice's "Delicate" and David Gray's "Babylon") - he went down really well - predictably.(I reckon it was because he was using my guitar LOL) - Brad then introduced Sam and Lee (who stings like a butterfly) and they had everyone singing the Jeff Buckley song "Hallelujah" and Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" - again having the luck of my guitar LOL - it is no surprise though, as all the regulars know what a soulful voice Lee has, that it was a great performance. At some point Rich touched Lee - not sure when though, Rich was sitting opposite me all the time! Jay introduced Brandon and Ashley then (we had managed to get the "reserves" in yay!) - and they declined Terry's help (!!!!!) but changed to my guitar when their semi-acoustic refused to play "nicely" (i've never seen an acoustic guitar that wanted to be an distorted electric axe so much!) - a good set by these guys...with the spirit of the disguised Nick coming through on the tambourine playing.... Brad then introduced Smudge - who gave us a song about a zombie I think and what seemed like Bo Diddley number - with Terry (no declining here!) - that was cool. I introduced Jay then, with Jay giving us the debut of his newest song, "Feeling Alright" - which was good stuff - then Brad came on and played bass for "You" (and I have to say Brad's bass playing was bloody excellent!!!! - seemed to playing a really busy sliding bassline throughout the whole track! - brilliant!!!!) Then I introduced the trio of Del, Miser Bill and Dirty Hippy - and he, of course, gave the best performance of the night (again) - with his "Sympathy with the devil" and "One Way" (dedicated to me as he can probably hear me singing along at the top of my voice LOL) - thanks for the dedication Del!!! - a fantastic night, which I am sure when Nick got home and took his disguise off made him think "well when I really do go off to Greece, it will be fine - as long as they don't screw up Leigh's sound again!" Gareth
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Compere City!
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