Posted by Gareth Howells - and I never do - it's a fantastic venue....I say venue.....tonight the goalposts have been moved as Nick gave his new teleport system a go - and it worked! - he managed to transport the Barn - which would be the PA system, the audience (to some degree), the performers, the atmosphere, the huge array of smiles and basic great night out - into another pub!!!! - although presumably as he was nervous about the new teleportation machinery, he forgot that it's supposed to be open mic - and forgot the raffle!!! - anyway....the Roger Courtney's Roadshow was out in force tonight at The Florence - a lovely pub - and the acoustics were brilliant. The audience were ridiculously loud in places - especially during Becky and Jay's sets - but they were also very appreciative.... I rewrote my set so many times that my piece of paper looked like one massive scribble (with the occasional comment from Rich) - but I managed to get some use out of it when Nick gave me an extended finish..... So Ade Cull was first up - a great way to start - and he did a cracking set - which included my two favourite songs from the sets i've seen in the past - those being his unique take on "Horse with no name" and his beautiful song "Dancing Barefoot" - but we were also treated to his personalised version of "Like a Rolling Stone" and a new song he wrote which he dedicated to me (thanks Ade) called "Sky Swimming" which is a new favourite of mine. His banter was great as usual - just a great way to begin. Then I played a short set (I was to come back later) which went ok. The songs I did in the first set were: For all to See At Least It Should Green Fields of France By Choice It's Good For You - then I went off and Dave took my place. Dave did a storming set - with his version of "Behind Blue Eyes" and a great moment half way through when he gout out a mandolin and did a great song that I didn't recognise (could be the drink) with it, then followed it with a mandolin backed "Mercedez Benz"! - nice one! Then Nick did his set - and I don't think he's ever sounded better - he nailed David Bowie's "5 Years", did an "in ya face" version of Razorlight's "Somewhere else" and had the assistance of the Florence Arms' male voice choir for "Swiss Roll" - well okay it was a bunch of blokes at the back shouting our heads off LOL - classic. Leigh was next.....Leigh had the already very loud audience totally silent when she did her second song - "Crazy" - a great moment. SHe was on top form - her banter, her general attitude and confidence seems to have grown hugely which is great - some clown made a dodgy shout of "Ginger!" when she told everyone she wasn't ginger - and he got a great comeback from her - she pointed out how stupid his hair looked - nice one Leigh, that'll teach him! LOL In fact, she was ready for anyone really, even anyone who was clapping along, that she didn't like their sense of timing! (taking no prisoners) - and introduced two songs with "I don't know the words to this one" LOL - madness - they were her songs! no-one would have known! - which she pointed out herself LOL - brilliant, brilliant set, with people singing along to the bits they knew and the audience visibly stunned by her great voice. She also seems to be intimidated by Alanis Morisette's "You Outta Know" - which is odd because I think she does it better than Alanis does! Ade definitely has competition for the funny intro award though.... One of the highlights of the night though has to be the war of wills between the audience and Leigh, over the song "Jolene" LOL - she really did NOT want to play it (as usual) - but the problem is.....she does it SOOOOOO well and it really suits her - people want to hear it! - and there were MANY people shoutng "Jolene!!" after a number of songs - and she came back with "shut up" occasionally but then....gave in.....lol....and gave us an absolutely top notch version of the song - one of the highlights. Jay was next up and he did a great set - but had to fight to get heard over a very loud audience - Brad helped out on bass again - most notably on the Thin Lizzy song that I think shows their union really well, shows off their duo sound - "Dancing in the moonlight" - he also gave us a new song that he's just apparently written - which I thought was really good, and different in feel to his others. He also smooched the microphone again during "Ain't no sunshine" - not sure if the mic likes him making moves on it but still.... Becky was next - and I had to follow her! (again!) - she is REALLY good - but again had to really fight to get above a shouty audience - it seems the alcohol was sinking in now - but in the end, half way through the set they were transfixed anyway! - she was brill - my fave being "Inverted Porcupine" - but there is many to choose from - a strong voice for a strong songwriter - a crucial combination! Then it was me again.... I have to say I enjoyed the second set more than the first - not sure why, I guess I am bound to enjoy people singing along to the songs, but even "World Turned Upside Down" which people don't sing along to - felt better...maybe I was warmed up....who knows - this is what I did anyway: World Turned Upside Down Lorelei Billy Austin Machismo Slogan Song Soil Brilliant Fire - I had some really loud people singing along to Brilliant Fire - which had me grinning no end - thanks people for that loads - and Becky punctuated Soil with some glass and lager action which was cool LOL - it seemed too that Billy Austin got a nice reaction which was good - doing a song like that you can really feel a good PA when you'e singing through one - you can put a lot of dynamics in the storytelling - I guess I was doing that in Lorelei too but I generally don't remember much about my performances of that - I really do go off on one every time I do it LOL - even in the studio I did! LOL Gareth Howells Link: Gareth Howells
on August 29, 2006, 9:41 am
Message modified by board administrator August 29, 2006, 9:46 am
Thing about the Barn is writing the blogs is so enjoyable because it's always good news!! - some people might suspect that i'm lying, being sycophantic or whatever - but I just wouldn't write about it if I had to lie.
Anyway - a great night - thanks to The Florence and thanks for Nick for asking me to play there - and well done to everyone i've written about - it's easy for it to look sycophantic when it was so good - but it was!
http://www.myspace.com/negnec
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