ReTrio at Moreton Hall Pub Bury St Eds

We had agreed within the band some time ago that we wanted to do a local New Years Eve and that this was our preferred venue but we knew we would have to compromise on price.  After a successful previous gig,  Chris had persuaded them to push the budget up a bit to book us and,  after consulting head office,  we got the OK!  Having had an exhausting Xmas with a lot of family visiting and Jacqui and I both suffering with colds I was kind of looking forward to a gig, but doubted my stamina.  I loaded the car at lunch to ease my gear carrying muscles back in gently.   At 6:10 I set off for the gig and arrived a few minutes later to find the boys well advanced on load in.  The pub was busy but not packed so load in wasn't too difficult.  I was pleased Chris had arranged a larger playing area for the band which meant that I could perform back a little from the expected crowd.  We did a steady set up and everything worked and sounded OK so I put the background muzak on and settled down to doing a bit of meeting and greeting and beer drinking as the wives arrived.  A chap in the growing crowd insisted on buying the band a beer in advance of our performance so I was 2 beers happy by showtime at 9pm.

As this stage the audience was mixed,  but most near the band were 20, 30 somethings.  As expected on such an evening of meeting, greeting and drinking, there was little in the way of audience reaction so we concentrated on making our music snappy as we played through a 50 minute but largely standard set 1.  I was very pleased with the sound from the off,  the bit of extra room had allowed us to get a workable volume on the mics.  I extended the rock'n'roll sequence to include "Rock Clock, Alright Mama and Blue Suede" and these got some of the girls near the band dancing.  We made a nod to Xmas with "Rocking Around the Xmas Tree" which had a few folk singing along. A bit faster than I intended and I messed up the solo a bit - still,  at least I knew I had lost my way and I moved seamlessly into fluffed chords!  We did do a bit of bantery entertainment with the Beatles but Chris didn't catch the wig when I threw it!  After the Searchers we did "Halfway" which got quite a bit of sing-a-long going.   "Runaround Sue"  got a few up dancing and I got quickly into "All Shook Up" at a dancey tempo to keep things going.  Unfortunately,  I didn't look at my hands on the guitar as I got underway and I had stepped up a semi-tone to Bb.  I only noticed as I entered the verse and I signalled by waggling my guitar neck to Chris to make sure he was in the same key.  In fact he had clocked it during the intro so we carried on.  We got a lot of loud answerbacks so I didn't have to sing  'all shook up'  throughout the song!  The solo was a bit tricky in Bb and I found it best to look away from the neck and do it by feel.  With all that sing-a-long it had to be "Wonder of You" to finish and it was a great choice with massive sing-a-long to a well performed set ender.

Having got the first set out the way with no vocal difficulty I was feeling more relaxed about my stamina to do the whole night.  However, the 2 Chris's were still suffering from the after effects of colds so a couple of their songs would be skipped.  We stepped up to do set 2 confidently and it all went well until I threw in "Be Bop a Lula" to pad it out.  Having not done it for a while I lost timing in the first solo but fortunately the boys followed me as I reset time for the second verse.  We also fitted in "Don't Stop" which we hadn't done for a while and I was pleased the words just came to me as we played it 'cos I couldn't remember them before we started it!  I substituted by doing "Honky Tonk Women" instead of "Proud Mary" 'cos Chris was suffering a bad throat.  After a good and extended "Hot Love - East Anglia Girls" I elected to finish with "Wicked Games" thinking it would suit this younger audience better than "Trilogy".  We performed it OK.  I did find singing the high chorus line a bit of a struggle but settled for it being in tune rather than loud.  After all that effort it wasn't that well received and I thought maybe I should have done "Trilogy".  As we took the last break before the run up to midnight, Jacqui said it was sounding good and she particularly liked "Wicked Games" which she hadn't heard us do before - she thought it was somewhat over this crowd's head.

We went back on at 11:25 for the final set.  We started with "Johnny B Goode" at Chris's request to get a rocker in the show earlier rather than use it as a sign off later.  Good idea I thought - actually if we could find a better sign off song we could do that regularly!  It went really well with folks dancing and singing and I thought we played it the best we ever had, with the band cooking and no solo errors!  We were quickly into "Great Balls" which kept the atmos going and then I called for "Saw Her Standing There".  I shouted to Chris the drum that I would sing it if he wasn't well enough for it but he decided to give it a go.  He had a bit of trouble with the high lines and forgot the guitar solo but we did do it!   I chose "Dance the Night Away" next to keep the dancing going - it went well and I went straight into "Saturday Night - Come on Over - Hey Baby,  Hi Ho, " to keep it going further.  We had a bit of a confab on timing for midnight and decided we could do a couple more.  I went for "Hippy Hippy Shake" and then "Alright Now".   We still had a couple of minutes so I said we'd do enough of "Mustang Sally" to while the time away.  As we stopped, Chris the bass took over as MC and led the talk down to midnight.  He was using his iPhone and we were about 10 seconds ahead of the TV with a text count down that was slow because of digital processing delay.  At this crucial point,  the vocal section of the crowd took over the count down from the TV so we ended up with two shouts of "Happy New Year" about 10 secs apart.  Chris announced us underway with "Old Lang Syne" which I sang in D.  Just then Jacqui came up to give me a hug and simultaneously someone from the crowd caught their foot in my guitar lead and pulled it out the FX unit.  It took me most of "The Okey Cokey" to sort it out but the boys carried on - well done!  After Chris the bass sang "Knees Up Mother Brown" we took a minute to wish each other a happy New Year and then got on with the set with:  "Pretty Woman,  Sweet Caroline, Road to Hell, Shakin All Over, You Really Got Me" and the closer for the night "Wonderful Tonight".  A surprising number of people had remained so we did do "Born to be Wild" as an encore and then we met and greeted well wishers as the pub music system took over.  It had been a good night for the band but, as I have said many times,  New Years Year Eve always has a 'hardness' to it which makes it more about crowd control than music.  Having said that I was pleased with the band and my own progress during the year.  In my opinion,  with all the lead vocal seasoning I have had over the year, this gig was about the best I have sang ever in my 50 year career as a bandsman.  (Not quite in Frank Sinatra's league yet though!)

Pack and load took ages but it was only a short trip home and I had a couple of "Baileys" with my cocoa to see the New Year in.  Pretty tired the next few days but should be back to normal for our annual pilgrimage to warmer climes.






 

ReTrio at the Grapes Cambridge

A new gig for us at a regular live music pub in Cambridge.  I checked it out on the net and somewhere in the blurb it said: "The Grapes brings you live performances from local Cambridge bands. Covering the greatest tunes from ANY decade, most bands have been playing on the circuit for a long time. A NIGHT NOT TO BE MISSED!"  Seemed our kind of gig?

Chris the bass picked me up at 5:50pm to form a 2 vehicle convoy heading West;  Chris the drum would be coming later.  An uneventful ride towards the city centre on the Histon Road took us to the venue by 6:30 and straight into the pub car park.  We were able to park up with several yards carry to the back door and then several more yards carry to the performance area,  so not too bad a load in.  The performance area was a railed off raised lounge.  The guvnor came and fixed sound proofing to the windows (polystyrene),  cleared some chairs and tables and voila:  a sizeable playing area with a bit of a dance floor!  Chris the drum arrived and we set the Bose well to the back so there would be a bit of sound carry to the main part of the pub as well.  Power was well off to Chris's side and I had to run a mains lead from there to my main protected distribution board and then a lead back to the bass side.  With set up complete I had plenty of time to test the sound  (the pub was busy so not a sound check as such).  Like most pubs we would be restricted in headroom by changing resonant frequencies on the PA.  The guitar and bass sounded good and a chap came over to ask me a few questions about the guitar sounds I was testing.  Chris the bass had a new cold and said: 'it was making him feel he wasn't in the mood';  Chris the drum was still recovering from a cold.  I,  currently coldless, thought we'd best have a couple of beers to improve the mood a bit!  Show time was at 9pm so we had plenty of time to while away on not a lot. 

By show time the clientele was much the same - mainly 30 plus's with a sprinkling of 40-50 somethings and a few younger folk round the pool table.  As I looked through to the other bar I could see some older folk,  so I was hoping for an OK crowd.  We had come dressed in black shirts and blue jeans,  no ties.   The venue and clientele weren't that well turned out so we stayed like that and still looked smarter!

We opened with "FBI".  All seemed OK soundwise,  but there was only a muted response as we finished so I did a bit of introductory chatter.  We carried on with "Heartbeat - Smiling" and we started to get some attention and little ripples of applause.  I pushed the echo up a little because the vocal sound seemed dry to me.   It was only as we ventured into rock and roll with "Rock Clock - Alright Mama" that we got a reasonable response and even a few on the dance floor.  I decided to skip the Xmas stuff and we got on with the Band intro songs: "Act Naturally,  Ring of Fire,  Eyes at Me For".   We hadn't done the latter for a few weeks and it was worth airing even if we were a bit rusty.  I did tease some of the oldies down in the other bar with this one,  inviting them to remember this song from the late 1950's then going "Do wappy do wappy" stop then 'silence' - they clearly couldn't remember it!  The Beatles (sans wigs) went down well and we had a few singing and dancing along with us.  I pretended we were more pro than we are by asking Chris where we were the previous night -  'Coventry' he replied!  No connection to the Searchers there so we just got on played the medley. There was an 'old boy' off to my left who clearly was enjoying the banter and the music (and a few drinks).  "Runaround Sue - All Shook Up" was well received and after a bit of prompting we got the crowd to answer back on the latter. We finished off with "Wonder of You" which did get some applause so I thought job well done really. It being a kind of 'take or leave it' venue I was relaxed and in a good mood myself.   The mood of the rhythm section had improved with playing and I thought we had the measure of the crowd, so confidence was high.

A fairly standard set 2 came and went.  I replaced American Trilogy with "Albatross" as the set closer to exercise it and promptly made a mistake in the first high section,  but slid into the correct frets quickly - so not too noticeable! 

We went on for set 3 opening with "Great Balls - Saw Her Standing There".  These got good responses with applause and dancing and I took the boys on quickly through a long sequence starting with "Dance the Night Away" and ending about 20 minutes later with "All Right Now".  It being the last gig for a couple of weeks,  I went for it vocally and thought I did a good job, and I enjoyed it.  Chris drum was too croaky to do "Another Brick in the Wall" so I called for "Hippy Hippy Shake" quickly and caught the boys dithering - it took them half a verse to get going but the song did energise the crowd into drunken dancing.  We did a bit more dithering over what to do next so I said lets exercise some stuff in progress and we did "Rockin All Over the World & Road to Hell" - I half forgot a solo in the former and both were a bit less together than last time, but it got some more finger time under the belt.  After playing our outroductions with "Johnny B Goode" we were dithering over the encore to fully finish.  In the end I said 'nothing to lose' - lets do "Summer of 69"!  This was very much a work in progress; I recall we had played it through only once before at a practice session to see what rockier numbers might work.  Actually we did it better than I thought we might and the audience didn't notice me struggling to shout the chords of the bridge and singing it at the same time.  I was pleased with my guitar sound and playing and got most the words right so it was a good call.  I also think the boys were pleased that I had the confidence in them to busk it through dependably.

Then it was pack and load.  Chris had a word with management who declared themselves well pleased and keen to have the band back.  We all agreed we liked the venue so Chris will make it so!   I was delayed opening my sandwich bag that Ms J wraps up so tightly - in effect we set off home separately.  But even on a slow run I was home by 1:30 am to find Ms J and Neice in law Nat still up and making cocoa.  Phil, Nat and the boys had arrived while I was gigging.

ReTrio at The Felsto Arms Felixstowe

We had left the gear in the cars from Friday night and agreed to meet up at the gig about 6pm for a 8pm start.  Chris would take Chris. I set off at 5:20 and took an easy drive to Felixstowe,  getting to the gig at 6:05 to see the Chris's loading their last few bits in.  I parked at the back and they helped me shift my gear in.  The guvnor (Robbie) had cleared a bigger space than last time so we did fit in OK (still tight for Chris drum).  Set up was uneventful but switching on the PA had the feedback suppressors working hard to track changing frequencies.  We would have to sing louder or play quieter - I opted for the latter.  We had come dressed in jeans, black shirts and ties so no need to change as such.   A chap at the bar bought us a round of drinks - good one ya buddy! 

The pub was busy but not as crowded as previous visits as we opened up a typical set 1 with added bits of Xmas songs.  It all went well in a toned down sort of a way,  we developed bits of banter with people who knew us now.   I thought I played and sang pretty well really,  and the bass and drums were solid.  Chris the drum was still a bit croakey from a bug he had had, so he declined a couple of vocals as the night progressed. 

During the break we had a strange discussion where Chris the drum explained he had been in touch with a singer Keith about us backing him.  I remembered this was the chap who sang in strange keys,  and didn't turn up to sing a couple of songs at Moreton Hall last time we were there.  Chris advised that he wouldn't need any special keys after all and he was set to come along New Years Eve and sing a few.  I didn't see a problem with us doing that,  but I couldn't see us backing him unless the whole unit was getting gigs for £300 plus so I questioned the added value,  saying that it could work better with a female singer to complement the band repertoirewise and improve vizuals.    I also pondered why Keith was not gigging on New Years Eve?  As we resumed I must confess I had mixed feelings about how to manage this and decided to sleep on the situation before trying to reach a settlement we could all buy into.

Typical sets 2 and 3 completed a low key but well performed evening.  But, even with only 20 left, we got to encore with "Born to Be Wild".   Unfortunately we were back to the slowed down drumming again;  ah well at least we all finished together!  Pack up was slow with stragglers milling around the band: and when we went outside it was a white xmas! Well not xmas and only a dusting of frostiness on the cars - but it was cold.  We got going after a bit of demisting and made our separate ways home.  Next day was busy with son Carl (and his family) over to celebrate his birthday.

ReTrio at Horringer Community Centre Casino Nite

Chris the bass's son in law Nathan is a teacher and he'd  booked us for a Xmas charity fund raising event his school was putting on.  There would be a casino thing going on as well, so the band sets would be relatively short.  I distilled workable set lists from the usual and asked the boys to be prepared to operate "out of the box" if we found the audience needed something special on the night. The event would start at 6:45pm and the band would start its first set at a relatively early 7pm.  Now, Chris the drum couldn't get time off work.  So there were some 'interesting' logistics preceding the gig.  Chris the bass and I met up on the Wednesday to go through "The James Bond Theme" song we would be playing as a link on the night.  So at the same time he dropped one of his bass cabs off with me to take to the gig.  That freed enough room in his car for him to go round to Chris the drum's on Thursday and pick up his kit.  Come Friday we had all the band gear aboard both cars and I followed Chris the bass down to the hall arriving at 4:15pm This was the same hall we met up in for a first time try out two years previously.  We'd certainly come on since then and we both had a sense of nostalgia as Chris opened the door.  That happy glow was immediately dispelled by the fire alarm continuing a high pitched noise.  Couldn't switch it off what ever we did.  The main hall was relatively quiet so we set about getting the gear in and setting up while the hall guvnor made his way over to sort it out.  A related problem soon emerged:  no power on stage?  I fiddled about with that for a bit but when the governor arrived he explained that the fire alarm automatically switched off power to the stage!  It took him about 20 minutes to identify a problem with a sensor in the kitchen then it was all systems go.  Meanwhile,  Chris the bass had set up the drums.  A couple of issues here and there but he seemed to know what to do.  One of the rare occasions I set up a music stand nowadays - just to see the set list really.  Although Chris the drum had yet to arrive, we had about an hour to event opening time,  so I conducted a sound check with the two of us.  After sorting out PA headroom,  which seemed quite high, we ran through a verse of "Smiling" and I recorded 20 secs of what went through the PA.  Then I played it back on a continuous loop.  Chris played along and I wandered out into the hall to have a listen.  It was surprisingly clear and loud all round the hall;  and well balanced with vocals sitting clearly above the backing.  The harmoniser was understated but that suited,  as were the strings.  I kind of wish I'd taken the time to perform the 20 secs a bit tidier,  but you could still judge the sound quality and it was good.  An amazing coincidental confirmation came in the shape of a chap who came into the hall at this point.  He said he was passing by, heard the band and was interested. He immediately commented on the great hi-tech sound - so its not our biased hearing! We explained the gig we were doing and he asked for a card.   Then Chris and I swapped positions.  I played the bass and he went out front to listen.  He was similarly impressed.  He had asked me to play the bass with a plectrum and it was a bit like a Jazz bass sound with the toppy pick click sitting on top of a full bass thump.  Sounded good to me.  I can get a similar effect with fingers by striking the string harder,  but the toppier pick sound does help fill the overall band mix of a 3 piece.  We implemented my judgement that we needed to pull the overall volume down a bit and tidied some of the wiring up - we were all set apart from a drummer!  Chris the drum arrived shortly after,  so we did a final sound check of "Smilin" with him and then tested out our rendition of the  "James Bond" theme phrase.

The hall was open now and the organisers were organising.  It seemed everything would be put back half an hour 'cos the Casino was running late.  I put on the background muzak and we went for a beer.  On this night I elected to have Becks bottled lager to avoid being first out the pumps!  The hall filled with a mix of teachers,  families and teens from the school.  3 of the boys had been shifting chairs from the back of the stage to make a lounge area at the back of the hall.  Spotting it as a risk,  I had managed to keep them from affecting our mains lead which ran through that area of the stage and I was glad that was over.   Bridget and Jacqui arrived looking good for a casino - we were all set.  But still no casino.

Nathan said we should get started - so we got changed into our smart gear in a cold committee room and came on to open up with the usual first few.  All went well, it sounded good, people applauded.  I had just got to the start of "Rock Around the Clock"  when the power went!  My first thought was fire alarm;  but no,  it was the young fellows shifting chairs again to accommodate a fuller house than predicted.  They were most apologetic,  we laughed it off and I reset the kicked power breaker!  We were soon going and played through a good set 1 of about 50 minutes.  There were bits of dancing and applause but we could also see people were really engaged with the band and we were doing well.  The casino people came in about 8pm and created some mild disruption shifting their tables in while we kept playing.  We finished our set and handed over to the Casino by playing our "James Bond Theme".  This went better than rehearsed and was very well received by the younger chaps of the audience who were all smartly dressed - I was right to refer to them as James Bond types!

In the break we played a bit of casino and managed to lose most of the 'free' chips issued on black jack and roulette.  I left mine on the band table as I went bock to play a 30 minute set 2.  This we started with the "James Bond Theme" then "Apache".  We went straight from that to "Happy Together" and that did sound good and full vocally.  We had a lotta folks singing along to "Daydream Believer and Delilah"  I had asked Chris to listen to the Alex Harvey version and he has taken to playing the drums on this number recently - it gives it more bite.  We did follow with a dancey "Bad Moon Rising,  Move It and Summertime Blues" before moving to our closing sequence with "Hot Love into East Anglia Girls".  I recall that these went OK.  We even had enough time to do a relaxed "American Trilogy" and this went down exceptionally well - we got massive applause and came off after a final flourish of "James Bond"

Next up was the raffle.  I won a bottle of Prosecco!  Then a bit more gambling and the announcement of the winners.  By now it was after 11pm and we went on to play the event out.  But with the casino packing up and people starting to leave, Chris the bass suggested we start with "Johnny B Goode" and introduce the band as the opener - so we did,  and it went very well = good call!  But after that people were on their way home so we left it at "Dance the Night Away",  "Saw Her Standing There" and with only the organisers left we finished off with "Honkey Tonk Women".  Chris had to be prompted to find his cow bell but once we got going it was a fine rendition.  Pack and load didn't take long - because we had some helpers to shift the gear.  Jacqui and I were home just after midnight I celebrated a good night banding with some toast and cocoa!

 

Burwell Ex-Services and Social Club

I picked up my amp from Chris in the morning and set about loading the regular gear for the evening gig - a new club for us!  Chris came round at 6:15 to lead the convoy to Bury Golf Club where we picked up Chris drum and headed West on the A14 in the dark.  We only had to go to the Soham exit to pick up the road to Burwell and it was only a few miles so we arrived at about 6:55pm on a dark, cool night.  Chris got them to open the stage door / fire exit on the road side of the club,  we unloaded and then shifted the cars to the car park. 
Nice little club room with a relatively large stage we would all fit comfortably on.  Chris the bass and I elected to go forward onto a front extension which would put us quite away forward from the back wall.  We decided to set the Bose up level with the drums so there was a good line of sight into the club room and on this occasion that meant placing the Bose outside the bass stack.  The Bose on my side had less of a line of sight into the room but would provide good monitoring for myself.  This week Chris the drum had failed to remember his mic stands - he hadn't needed them on the previous night!  So I got my spare out for Chris the bass to use,  Chris the drum used Chris's boom and Chris the bass improvised a stand for the bass drum mic by taping the mic and its desk stand to the mic box. 

We had good support from the management who came over to make sure we had power and to sort the house lights out.  We had the luxury of a junk room by the side of the stage to get changed in.  By 7:45pm everything tested OK but there were a few in already so we didn't sound check as such and I put the background muzak on.

Come show time at just before 9pm there were about 25 in the room.  We opened up with the usual few numbers and all seemed to be good with a very acceptable on stage sound.  Audience response was a bit muted,  but we gradually started to win them over as the set progressed.  We fitted in "Rockin Around the Xmas Tree and White Xmas" early on and we got some bits of sing-a-long going.   We had a fair few up and dancing as we got into the final third of the set with  "Halfway to Paradise, Runaround Sue and All Shook Up".   In the break I showed an enthusiastic young committee man round our hi-tech PA - he was most impressed.

The room had gradually filled during our first set and break and the room looked busy if not crowded as we resumed.  We opened set 2 with "Apache" and I went out front for a walk.  It sounded pretty good with sparkly guitar over solid bass and drums,  and we got a good response for it.  After "Do You Wanna Dance", we played "My Only Possession" as a request waltz for one of Chris the bass's mates who had shown up. He and his missus did a fine job and several other slow dancers came up just as we were finishing it.  So we elected to continue with "Albatross" as a slow dance and we were pleased to see it fill the floor!  After that we continued with our normal set 2 rock n roll repertoire for a bit and that kept people dancing.  We lost them in "Rip It Up" so I cut that short and we did "Wicked Games" as an atmospheric slowey.  This time I made sure the boys had the rhythm before I started the guitar solo introduction.  The floor filled again and we played it well apart from losing the intended arrangement as I added the wrong 3rd verse and omitted a repeated chorus - it really didn't matter though!   We tried a debut of Chris the drum singing "Spanish Eyes" but,  maybe too many slowies?  It didn't go down too well I'm afraid - maybe next time? This night we did a creditable performance of "Hot Love into East Anglia Girls".  I slowed it down a bit more and took my time about getting started.  Although I did forget the 'Florida Hawaii etc '  intro,  "East Anglia Girls" itself was well received:  I think they got the joke,  but on this night the big thing was that it was danced to - we had a full dance floor!  Vocally we got it much better as well.  Still a bit more to do but I was very pleased with the best outing of this so far. We finished the set with "American Trilogy" which went down well.   In the break I wanted to bring up the volume on the muzak a little,  but the mixer had frozen so I had to find a break between songs to restart it.  I wonder if the rural voltage was down a bit this far out?  Fortunately everything on the PA was working for the restart. But, unfortunately,  Chris's bass was hardly working?  He plugged straight in to bypass compressor,  but it was only a little louder.  I was all for continuing with a weak sound but he suddenly announced the lead into his bass had worked loose.  The guitar stand must have nudged it out of kilter so it was half in = a weak signal! We finally opened with "Dance the Night Away".  I messed the timing up of the initial horn part but we soon got into it proper and then about 10 ladies got up to line dance to it.  This was great stuff!  I continued with "Saw Her Standin There" and then took us into "Pretty Woman" all of which kept the dance floor busy.  We lost them with "Sweet Caroline"  but they all sang along and were really enjoying it.  They came back for a dance with "Saturday Night at Movies - Come on Over to My Place,  Hey Baby,  Hi Ho, Alright Now"  I tried to keep the momentum going with "Another Brick In the Wall"  but Chris the drum had forgotten the sequence change and it was very scrappy when we finally did get going.  So we lost the dancers at that point.  We picked it up again with "Help Me Make It Through Night"  after a bad start where I mistakenly cued Chris the drum in with an A instead of a D.   We did get some slow dancing going however, so I tried to take them up a small gear with "Mustang Sally" .  That didn't really work and we kept it short because we were out of time.  We finished off with "Johnny B Goode" which we played well enough after the ragged section we had just completed.  It was midnight and people were drifting off so we didn't encore.  Overall it had been a good night and,  despite our performance falling down somewhat towards the end,  the management hadn't noticed and were keen to book us back.  So we were well pleased as we packed up.  We were on the road by 12:45am and home on a misty night by 1:30 am.  Leg a bit sore but not feeling as tired as usual - I must be getting my stamina back!

Bury St Edmunds Xmas Fayre

Headlining on the Friday night at the Xmas Fayre on Angel Hill?  Well,  we just had the last one hour slot of the day following a rock-a-billy band called Fretz!  Our slot started at 7pm but we were required to show up a couple of hours earlier.  We only needed back line,  so I tested my Mesa Lonestar amp with the Roland FX and packed a few leads.  I also put on my thermal underwear because,  even though it was a mild night for the time of year,  it would be cold playing in the open.  Chris the bass was taking a half stack and kindly picked me up at 4:15pm for the drive us into town.  Getting through security was a bit of a faff, and the Mayor of Bury was brought over to walk in front of the car to lead us to the car park near the old tourist office.  This was still a hundred yards to the Abbeygate Green King stage in the square so I borrowed a trolley thing and we shifted the amps to the assembly area to the left of the stage.  Chris the drum was already there and a school choir was performing,  so we minimised disruption while they finished by heading to the One Bull pub for a pint.  When we came back we shifted our gear into the artiste assembly tent - aka green room!  Fretz did their set and Chris assembled his kit while they were on so we were all ready for a quick change.  They played a fine set of that idiom;  I was pleased to see there was no overlap with our set.  The wives and entourage all arrived about 20 minutes before our show time and the square was busy if not crowded.

The changeover went very smoothly.  The sound guy miked my amp up with a SM57 and the kit with a condenser mic on the top and a bass drum mic.  Chris provided a DI from the 'pre' socket on the back of his amp and all was working very quickly.  We didn't do a sound check as such and just got straight on with FBI.  My amp was a bit toppy,  so I took the volume down a bit on guitar and that seemed better.  We got a good reception for our start off and I led us quickly into "Heartbeat".  The toppy edge came back,  but not a lot I could do while singing.  Interestingly,  some ladies out front had been dancing,  so I got quickly on with "Rock Around Clock".  It was after the solo in this that my amp lost a lot of power and we had to drivel it to a finish.  I switched guitar socket thinking the guitar battery had given out,  but no sound at all then.  I touched the tip of the jack,  not a whisper?  So I swapped lead and - we got sound back!  We got straight on with "Alright Mama". Good pace but I could feel the amp struggling to maintain volume,  so I kept the guitar signal as high as possible to blow the problem free - that seemed to work a bit.  We got through the song and set up for "Rocking Around the Xmas Tree - White Xmas"  All OK and I started to relax.  Next was "Ring of Fire".  The guitar sound went again in the last verse. The number came to a close and I fiddled around a bit but I never got to the bottom of it on the night.  From then on it seemed to work enough for us to get on with the set.  Chris had a go at "Delilah" and it sounded fine.  The guitar sound was a bit distorted but workable as we carried on with the Beatles and Searchers.  No harmoniser on the mics but the mic sound was good on stage and Jacqui later reported the vocals as being strong out front.  We were going down well with this passing crowd and I ramped us up a gear by doing "Hi Ho into Alright Now".  The guitar sounded good in these!  We ran to a finish with "Johnny B Goode" .  We had done about 45 minutes but it felt like hours with all the problems. I know we weren't at our best but all our followers thought it was good - with a really strong band sound out front making the stress of the situation less noticeable.

Pack up went smoothly and the Mayor who was MC for the event came over to say he had enjoyed our set and would we be up for it next year? 'Yes Please' we said. It had been quite enjoyable despite the problems.

Jacqui and I walked back intending to get a beer on the way  but, as the One Bull was packed,  we ended up having a beer at home .

 Next day I ran the guitar rig at home and found:
1. The guitar lead has a silent switch on it.  I must have knocked it when changing sockets!
2. The amp was set as I use it at home with the FX loop enabled.  There has always been an intermittent fault with this.  I thought the service had fixed it but it was still there.  The fix is simple - switch it to hard bypass and a relay switches that circuitry out!  That's the way I used to use it with the Foot Tappers for maximum power and clarity!

 

3.  The guitar battery was OK but I changed it to be on safe side!

ReTrio at The Chequers Feltwell

The start of our run up to Xmas tour.  I had enjoyed the couple of weeks off but it was time to get back to work!  We had a practice in the week and passed a few Xmas songs as suitable for broadcast;  and I intended to try out "Rockin All Over the World and The Road to Hell" at the gig if opportunity allowed.  I checked the pub out on the internet and the pictures were full of jolly white haired country types enjoying nice looking meals / beers. Looked like 'our kind of gig'!  Chris the bass rolled by to pick me up at 6:10 and we formed a duo convoy to the 3 Kings at Fornham where Chris the drum joined in a deft manoeuvre slipping in between us to make it a trio.  Then it was a case of simply following Chris to Lakenheath and then a few miles further to Feltwell.  Strange approaching a gig in the dark after the Summer - but it was relatively mild.  Chris went in and sought direction as to the best way to enter and soon we were reversing up to the back yard to take the gear straight into the bar playing area.  The bar was really busy though so we had to wend our way past folks to drop the gear off at the end wall.  The management cleared the pool table to one side and that cleared the folks back to the bar itself.  I must say that even at 7pm this lot looked 'well oiled'.  Many of them were in wellies and ordering more rounds.  As we got the gear in Chris the bass whispered 'its a gypsy shooting party'.  'Crikey' I thought, 'Gypsies,  guns,  drink,  women = all the ingredients for a wild west fighting night!'

Actually there was quite a bit of room now the pool table was over to one side and set up went well. Chris restricted the lighting set up 'cos we were running everything off one 13 amp supply.  I thought that low voltage might have made the PA a bit weak 'til I realised the Bose on my side wasn't even switched on - easily fixed!  I ran the PA up to and into feedback but the suppressors were having to work hard to deal with the changing frequencies of a busy bar.  Chris the bass got the drinks in while I made last minute adjustments and fielded requests for songs by 'Dexy's Midnight Runners'.  Still, we had best part of 45 minutes to while away before show time and I hoped that maybe they will quieten down a bit as the drink takes hold.  I put some Rod Stewart American Songbook tunes on the PA to relax things,  but, fortunately, most of the arguments seemed to taking place outside the pub.  As 9pm approached the two Chris's proposed just changing into white Ts and waistcoats, we'll stay in our jeans and trainers. I agreed - so we 'made it so'.

We came on just before 9pm to have a last PA check and tune,  then opened up on the dot with "FBI".  This got no reaction,  so we carried on quickly with "Heartbeat".  It must have been the atmosphere of 60's English countryside evoked by the TV series,  but that got several of them up and dancing in their wellies.  Non too steady on their feet either but the atmos was calmer. Singing was proving to be hard work 'cos the PA level before feedback was low,  and this continued to plague us all night.  Next song was "Smiling".  My banter went straight over their heads,  so I thought I'd not bother too much more with banter and just slick through the numbers.  But I did try out "Rocking Around the Xmas Tree" (even though it was a bit early in the year!)   Unfortunately I started it much too fast - but the crowd seemed to like the thrash version and weren't too fussed about dancing in time! We carried on with more rock'n'roll which kept them all up and dancing;  so much so that we did all 3 songs rather than the usual perm any 2 from 3 of:  "Rock Around Clock, Alright Mama,  Blue Suede". Next up "Act Naturally and Ring of Fire" introducing the Chris's went well and engaged the crowd a little;  but I signalled to skip "Eyes" and we proceeded into the "8 Days a Week - Can't Buy Love" Beatles sequence (without wigs) which again filled the floor with welly dancers.  We lost them with the Searchers Medley,  but they did join in by singing along in "Runaround Sue - All Shook Up".  We were quite pleased at our efforts in crowd control as we finished the set with "Halfway to Paradise" with some gropey dancing and squiffy sing-a-long"

We took our break in the restaurant which was peaceful.  But when we returned 10 minutes later the bar was much less rowdy.  'Aah' I spied - a buffet had arrived and the food and drink must be having a soporific effect.  We set about a fairly normal set 2 and after about 20 minutes things were even calmer as the shooting party began leaving.  They were replaced to some extent by some old boys who were appreciating the music a bit more than our set 1 crowd.  Things were going well enough for me to call for Chris the bass to sing his debut of "Rockin All Over the World".  His vocal was a bit rough but we definitely captured the rhythm and flavour of the song and he got a good reception.  As we cruised to the set end with a rough and too fast version of "East Anglia Girls" I pondered what to finish with.  I wasn't in the mood,  and the venue wasn't right for, "Trilogy";  so I called for "Wicked Games".  I thought we did a good effort on this. I was pleased with my vocal and we created a good closing atmosphere for this mixed audience.  For in the last 10 minutes the old boys were drifting away and the bar was filling up with the under-25's!

We opened set 3 with "Great Balls" as normal and I took us straight into "Saw Her Standin There" and so we played on doing a continuous sequence of several numbers all the way through to "All Right Now".  Somehow I forgot "Another Brick in the Wall" but I called for the debut of "Road to Hell" instead.  This went surprisingly well with the younger audience and we played it fairly well. I was happy with my vocal but I need to sort the detail of the solo's out.  But I think it was convincing enough.  Strangely enough the young crowd had been asking for something by Lionel Ritchie?  I was almost tempted to do a few bars of "3 times a lady",  but strumming it while I was talking I couldn't even remember the first 3 chords,  so I abandoned that and made my apologies to the requestor.  We carried on with our run down to midnight with:  "Hippy Shakes, Mustang Sally and Johnny B Goode!  We had 5 minutes left and someone called for more so we set off into "Born to Be Wild".  Something good happened at the first "Born to be Wild" - Chris the Drum didn't slow it down!  But second time around he did?  We finished in good order and I thought it was about the best version we had done to date. As we packed up I told Chris I was pleased with his playing of it, especially first time around,  and he said he got lost and forgot to slow it.  I said why not keep it like that in future?  So fingers crossed for the next outing.  Load up was tricky with people in the way but we finally got going about 12:40pm.  Not a bad trip home on a dark, misty night.  Chris the bass led and set off at speed and lost us somewhere near Lakenheath.  I was home by 1:30am a bit sore with sciatica,  but it is on the mend.   Chris the drum texted the next day to say we should call Chris the bass 'Speedy Gonzalez' to reflect his driving style.  I replied saying we should make it his theme tune!  Reflecting:  I wasn't too happy with the band sound on the night,  but apparently,  the pub manager was impressed with the band and its professionalism and is keen to have us back in 2015.

ReTrio at Bramford British Legion

Chris the bass had been on holiday in Tenerife and was landing back at Stansted in the early hours of Saturday morning.  Thought he would have a lay in so I exchanged texts about 10:30 and we agreed I would motor round to his place for a 6:20 departure to the gig.  Once in convoy he set off at such a pace it took me to Stowmarket to catch up.  It was a clear night as we arrived in Bramford at about 6:45.  We could see Chris the drum parked up outside - and the place was open!  After a bit of juggling we got parked up close enough to the entrance and started the load in.  By the time all our gear was in Chris the drum was set up,  but then he had to move it forward to make room for the back line.  Set up went well until I looked round for my mic stand.  Shock horror - I had forgotten both it and the guitar stand.  Nephew in law Simon had helped me load and I was so busy telling him everything had a place, and by doing it that way I knew everything was aboard that I then went and forgot the stands - doh!  I went back out to the car and retrieved the spare mic stand.  Chris the bass kindly offered to let me use his boom stand and he would use the spare straight stand. 

It all sounded good and Chris the drum did a couple of loud runs round the kit to see how the sound meter responded. Chris the bass took some of the boom out the bass and, as I strummed in keeping a respectable volume, we seemed to be just clipping the red and there was no hint of feedback - so: 'good enough for rock n roll' I declared as we omitted a formal sound check.  The venue was filling up quickly and as we went to get changed there were only a few spare tables left.  And as we came out for an 8:30 start even they were filled!  Tracey the governess was just completing some club announcements as we took our places. It seems there were a few birthdays and Pearl was having a bit of a do at the club!  Tracey announced the band and we set off into F B I.  Maybe I was a bit stiff on the guitar but overall it sounded good and got a great reception as we finished.  Before we got on with our show we did a couple of rounds of "Happy Birthday" and that set a relaxed vibe,  because when we did get going with "Heartbeat" it was well together and the floor filled with dancers. We finished to a very warm response so I introduced the band. We were wearing our poppies,  but Chris the drum had a small tie pin version.   So as I introed the band I mentioned Remembrance Sunday and Chris the bass and myself posed our poppies forward;  then I pointed back at Chris the drum and said 'he's only got a little one'. He posed his tie forward.  Of course this innuendo generated a big audience response and I did repeat the joke a couple of times later as the evening progressed.  But now we had to play some more music.  I had briefed the boys in the dressing room to expect some changes to the flow and I chose the Everlys "Walk Right Back" next.  This really suited the dancers and I carried on into "When Will I Be Loved" to keep it going.  Next up I had teed the boys up to drop in a waltz "My Only Possession" and this went really well considering we only ever ran it through a couple of times in the early days.  The dance floor was so busy I did an instrumental round as well - just strumming the chords.  I was well pleased with the way we had done this -  the boys in the rhythm section had come on a lot over the last few months to be able to do things without warning.  They looked ready for another slowey so I called for "Groovy Kind of Love" and,  considering we haven't played it for a while we did a good job and it went well down well as well.  I took things back on track for a well received and danced to rock n roll section with "Rock Around the Clock into Alright Mama".   Then we did the two Chris intro songs "Act Naturally" which was surprisingly well received and "Ring of Fire" which went down very well.  Chris advised we were getting on time wise so I skipped my intro song and went straight to the Beatles routine.  The wigging up hasn't changed much over the years but it still gets a good laugh and we played the two songs well and continued to keep the audiences attention and dancing!  Next I took us through our tribute to the Searchers.  I usually get the audience to guess the name of the band I am 'searching' to remember and they did.  We played it pretty well and I was fairly pleased with the transition from "Sugar n Spice" into "Needles and Pins" with the exception of Chris the drums strangely timed accents (I have since asked Chris the bass to look Chris the drum in the eye and conduct with his bass neck to get it right).  But the audience clearly enjoyed the sequence and, as we finished, a chap came out of the dance floor specially to say to us: well done for a great tribute medley!  After "Halfway to Paradise" we had run out of time so we finished with "All Shook Up" to an enthusiastic reception.  A very good first set!

We came back on for set 2 and I did the Shads walk for "Apache" to entertain the audience.  Chris built it up a bit saying 'it would be a risky dance demonstration 'cos of his sciatica'  While I was out I could gauge the sound and it was good.  Excellent balance with solid bass and drums underpinning a sparkly guitar sound and even a dose of smooth strings at the end fitting into the soundscape nicely.  I was very pleased.  We carried on through our normal set 2 with "Do You Wanna Dance - Happy Together - Daydream Believer - Delilah" and got them singing along,  dancing and applauding just great.  I sensed we needed a slowey so I called for "Albatross".  We havn't played it for a while but it sounded good,  no errors and we all finished together - and well received!  Next I did a dedication to the fruit machines near the bar by performing "Penny Arcade".  We played well and the audience loved it.  Some of the dancers even seemed to have a routine worked out to do the pace changes.   I took the band on through a little rock n roll section with "Move It" but hit a glitch with my pedal right at the start.  If you tread on two switches together by accident it starts recording (and not changing the FX).  The reliable way to get rid of this is to reboot which does take 30 seconds or so.  So Chris the bass bantered away about it until we could get going.  Then the dance floor filled.  We took them on through "Summertime Blues as normal and then "Rip it Up".  I tend to let Chris the drum go with the flow in this nowadays 'cos I can't get him to remember the jungle beat under the verses that I prefer.  Next was "Proud Mary" which I was pleased to get right after a few gigs where Chris and I were at odds on the arrangement.   With time racing away we carried on with the "Hot Love - East Anglia Girls" sequence successfully (but still a bit ragged and rushed on the latter) and kept the dance floor busy.  One couple of a certain age I spotted had danced energetically through out the whole set.  But now it was time to finish - with "American Trilogy"  and this went down just great.  A really strong audience response put the sound meter into the red!  A good second set!

We got changed into the white Ts and black waistcoats and came back on after the raffle to start with "Dance the Night Away" for a change.  That got 'em all up dancing again and we continued with "Saw Her Standing There".  It was approaching 11pm as we took them through the sing-a-long party dance sequence and the audience had thinned a little,  but the crowd still sang along enthusiastically and the stalwarts were still dancing.  We finished the sequence with "Hi Ho" to avoid the soft rock 'hardness' (and volume) of "All Right Now" and we brought forward "Make It Through The Night" to be a mid-set slowey.  Once again the slowey filled the floor and I felt obliged to follow up with another so we embarked on "Wonderful Tonight".  On both these songs I had thought Chris the bass and myself were at odds on what I thought were semi-tone starting run downs;  but we checked it in the week and all was fine so it must have been a bit of dodgy tuning?  Next up was a slow paced  version of "Mustang Sally" to get them moving again.  Then we rocked out  "Hippy Hippy Shake"  before calling "Johnny B Goode" as our last number - mentioning that we were over time so it would be our last.  And it was,  there wasn't much call for the encore - we were about 10 minutes over time as we finished.  It had been another good set and several people came up at the end to thank us, including Pearl the birthday girl.  Got changed,  packed and loaded still feeling good about the night's work. Then it was a half hour run home for cocoa and toast before bed.  Chris the bass and I had a session in the week to correct some errors and sort out arrangements for some new material.  But now we have a couple of weekends off to enjoy.

ReTrio at The Greyhound Bury St Edmunds

I was feeling a bit sciatic after the previous night so I was glad it was a local gig.  I set off at 6:25 for a 6:34 arrival,  but the car park was a bit tricky with people leaving and arriving.  I did get a space in the end but not ideal.  Chris the drum was already there and I got him to shuffle his car up a bit but it was still tight.  Chris the bass arrived to add to the confusion but, just as I was getting the gear in,  a couple of folks left the pub freeing up 2 parking spaces - we could get sorted!  As I got the last few bits out of the car Jacqui passed by with Phil, Nat,  Ethan and Isaac - all heading home from town.  Sad but true the grandsons wouldn't be coming to the gig on this occasion.

There is a new landlord at this pub and he soon got his barman shifting things at the West end of the room to give us quite a good size playing area.  His brief was to leave enough room for them to get past the band to access the door to the cellar and I was careful to do this;  but we needed to shift the cases back into the car to give full access.  We had a problem with set up.  My mic sounded flat and low powered and when I put the harmoniser on we just got annoying digital feedback?  Chris the drum confirmed it sounded weak at the bar.  I was checking settings on the harmoniser when it occurred to me I might have mistakenly plugged the harmoniser into my vocal input and vice versa.  Yes - that was it! We soon had our usual sound going. We still had a changeable hi frequency resonance to deal with but, with the feedback suppressors working on it,  overall I was much happier with the PA sound than our last time there.  I advised the boys to play to the PA level which couldn't go much higher.

Clothing was the same as the previous night but with black trousers and we had arrived dressed for the part so we had plenty of time for a beer before our 8:30 pm start.  Come show time there were only about 15 in the pub,  but it was such mild weather there were at least the same number outside in the courtyard.  We decided to strike up regardless and we soon hummed through a variation on our usual set 1 to exercise some of the reserves such as "Guitars Cadillacs,  Folsom Prison and Be Bop A Lula."  That kept us on our toes and we maintained good continuity so we arrived at the end of the set with enough time to take on "Wonder of You".  The band was playing well and we were relaxed and comfortable enough with each other to work in some nuances - good progress!

There were a few more in for the start of set 2.  I didn't do the walk as such but I did a few poses to entertain a couple at a table on my left who had sat through set 1 and looked really engaged with it.  Early on in the set I dropped in "Penny Arcade".  This was the best we have played it so far and it got some good applause from the fruit machine fans.  We progressed on through a standard set until the end of "Hot Love" when I unleashed my secret weapon to transition into "East Anglia Girls".  We took the key up to A and settled into the rhythm for a couple of bars then I shout:  'Florida!  Hawaii!  California!  East Anglia--!'  and off we go into the song proper.  All this went down pretty well with the about 20 in the room and we even had a few doing some dance action.  We finished to good applause and were set for the big finish with "American Trilogy" which got a fantastic reception from such a small crowd.

In the break the landlord had a word.  He said he was really enjoying our show but he was annoyed with the poor turn out.  He was clearly frustrated that he had put on quality entertainment for several weeks and thought he would have to retreat to occasional party nights. Nevertheless, we strode forward to do our final set in good heart and we got a good response from the slightly bigger crowd now some had 'come in from the cold'.  There was lots of singing along,  bits of dancing and strong applause.  The band was playing well and there was only one major cock up - towards the end.  I try to get the boys to transition from "All Right Now" into "Another Brick in the Wall" but Chris the drum didn't pick up on it and he even seemed to forget he was meant to be singing it.  So I started the vocal and that got him going, but he was not really with it throughout the song: with missed timings of 'hey teacher..' and even a whole vocal line missed out that I had to come back in on?  Chris the bass is getting the gist of the prominent bass line but it is not quite tight enough yet and he is so focussed on doing the bass line that he is not joining in on the vocal as rehearsed. The solo went quite well but not enough power so I have now decided this must be done with a sustain sound.  We did the transition from the solo into the vocal finish 'All in all ... brick in the wall'  very well though.  The song went down OK with the crowd but this number will need some more playing to slick it up and make the required impact.   Next up: "Hippy Hippy Shakes followed by Mustang Sally",  where I make a point of saying 'We want all the ladies to sing on the Ride Sallys'.  Chris the bass is doing a better job on the vocal in the chorus now and I made a mental note to ask him to try the verse as well (I am currently doing it).  We finished with Johnny B Goode and encored quickly with "Born to be Wild" - this combination big ending went as well as it possibly could with this relatively small crowd and we were well pleased with the response. 

As we packed up the landlord came over and said our performance had been 'just great' and,  on this showing,  he would love to get us back in on a party night.  We were chuffed with the nights work and almost whistled as we started tear down.  I said a special good bye to the couple on my left who had sat through the whole show - 'they deserve a medal!' I said.  We were soon packed and loaded and so I was home by 12:30am in a mood for cocoa and toast!  Still in a good mood the next day when we ended up at the Pickerel for roast lunch with the extended family.

ReTrio at the Dolphin Hotel Felixstowe

Chris the bass and I agreed to travel in convoy.  I left at 5:45pm to arrive at his house at 5:49pm and he would pull out in front of me at 5:50pm to lead the way.  Kinda worked like that but with an unplanned stop of 30 seconds for me to wait for his car to appear!  Stormy but mild night,  we had a good drive over to Felixstowe despite the rather heavy Friday late afternoon traffic,  but Chris too a strange route into the town centre and then back out rather than take the road to the docks which leads directly to the gig.  We parked up on the pavement outside the pub and walked in to inspect.  What I thought would be the playing area was a small stage in the pool room.  But no (thankfully) Karen was organising to clear some space at the door end of the main bar = ideal!  We were well advanced on set up when Chris the drum arrived and we had everything up and running by 7:30pm.  Shortly after the landlord (John a Liverpudlian) swept in and asked us to shift the cars off the pavement to the pub car park - apparently the pavement is a taxi drop off point!  No problem we said and as we did that a squall passed over and we got a bit wet.  We had come prepared in jeans and black shirts so only needed to put on ties and hats and we were ready to rock.  John asked for a 9pm start and an 11:30 finish so Chris worked out set times with a couple of 10 minute breaks,  then another beer before show time!

We played a fairly conventional set 1 and, a few numbers in, the bantering started to get some response.  No dancing as such but good applause and answers to my questions such as:  what was the name of the 60's Liverpool group I'm 'searching' my mind to remember.  'The Searchers'  they shouted back!  The bantering took some time up so we finished with "All Shook Up" to good applause.

In the break the landlord, John,  said he really liked the band but he had to admit it made little difference to the pub's takings.  Sadly, he revealed he was selling out of it at the end of the current year and it was unclear if the pub's new management would continue the tradition of it as a live music venue. 

We came back on with a Shads Walk to "Apache".  I made a point of getting as far forward as I could to judge the band sound and it was pretty good - nothing I could take issue with.  Unlike my dancing which was dire!  We don't mention 'Sir Cliff' at the moment so I simply ask the audience "Do You Wanna Dance?" to introduce the next song.  By and large they don't and they didn't at this venue;  but they did applaud and take interest.  As we continued I have to say the band was playing quite well together and a generally good atmosphere settled over the whole pub.   We morphed into "East Anglia Girls as we approached the end of the set and on this night it went well enough;  but still plenty to tighten up there.  We finished with "American Trilogy" which went well and brought the house down.

A couple came up in the break to say they had really enjoyed it - they hadn't expected to stay out as late as this;  but the band was so entertaining they had done but they had to go and relieve the babysitter at the caravan park across the road.  I had spotted them taking an interest and it was gratifying to hear they had enjoyed it.

So,  as we started set 3 we were down to about 25 in the 'concert room'.  There were bits of dancing now and then and we fulfilled a request for a Status Quo song with "Caroline".  Not too bad considering we hadn't played it for ages.  We got a lot of shouts for more after "Johnny B Goode" so we did do "Born to be Wild" with me following Chris's slow downed chorus.  All in all a very good night.  We packed and loaded efficiently and I made a fast run home to minimise sciatica - it still kicked in though and I had a rough night ending up taking Nurafen to get to sleep.

 

Checkmates at King Edward Hall Lindfield

After our jaunt to the Bluebell we proceeded through the Sussex countryside to Jenny and Miles house in Lindfield where we were treated to a nice lunch and drink!  We managed a little walk round the village in the afternoon then I set off for the gig while Jacqui watched Strictly with Jenny.  I found a good parking spot straight away and (recently arrived) Graham and Raye gave me a hand in with the gear.  Its a high stage here and we had to take care heaving Graham's Trace Elliot combo onto the stage.  We had about 30 minutes to check some things out.  Graham wanted to correct a difference between us on the riffs on "Counting Teardrops".  What I thought was a harmony on guitar wasn't really working - so we agreed to play the same unison run from E in the verses.  We gave the newies a run through.  As per last year I wonder if "Never Know What Your Missing" would benefit from a raise in key. Then we agreed the main arrangement for "Drums" which had got a bit too improvised of late.  All this practice revealed a stage resonance around A which rattled the drums but nothing we could do about that other than drop the volume a bit.  Graham wanted to check out the echo levels which he thought were too high on the ballads.  We had a difference of opinion there that we needed to solve by objective listening.  I went out front while he sang "Make Believe" over bass and drums and had to admit he had a point.  When I checked the ballad echo level in the FX unit it was about 60 and I had to reduce it to 50 to get it sounding good out front.  The levels on the slap back and the general vocal were fine at around 50 and the whole level was adjustable on the FX return on the mixer,  so we were all a lot happier after this discussion.  Jacqui arrived at 8pm; and Val arrived about the same time along with Val's sister Marilyn accompanied by Graham from the band 'Music Box'.   

We struck up with our fist set shortly after and of course as soon as we got going this wonderful crowd were dancing applauding and responding to our banter.  As we got going into "Walk Right Back" the dance floor really filled,  so I indicated to Graham we would run on into "When Will I Be loved" and the transition went really well despite my not playing it for best part of a year.  Sensing the crowd were up for it,  I dropped in "Rainin in My Heart" as a mid set slowey and that filled the floor as well.  After that we did the set as written and that took us to 9pm where we would have a 45 minute break for the buffet.  Jacqui insisted I had a something to eat and I found myself on the receiving end of a couple of sandwiches - very nice.  That called for another beer,  but I had to settle for a shandy as I had had rather a boozy lunch earlier in the day!  We went back on to play the Checkmates hits and then "Drums".  This was much tighter than the previous night but Graham surprised me when we doing our bit round the tom.  We pushed Raye away as planned so he could go and get his illuminated sticks,  but then Graham said 'en guard!'  Next thing we were fencing with the sticks in a mock sword fight.  He was getting the better of me so I was glad when Raye reappeared,  the lights dimmed and he got going with the flashing sticks.  The crowd loved it!

We took a short break,  changed shirts and resumed for 30 minutes dancing.  By the time we did our usual "Lucky Old Sun - Early in the Morning ending and got through a few encores it was 11:45 and we called a halt.  Very pleased with the end result.  We got packed and loaded in good form and said our goodbyes.  Raye asked me to plan a half hour set for our next appearance at a vintage Brit Rock n Roll weekend at the Borderline Club in Soho early in the New Year.    Jacqui and I crept back into Jenny and Miles house at about 12:45 tired but pleased with the night.

Next day we set off after breakfast on the long trip home - the sciatica not too bad so only two stops en route!

 

The Checkmates at Hassocks (Clayton and Keymer) British Legion

We set off for the annual Checkmates re-union gig weekend at 11:45 am on a typical dry Autumn day.  I was keen to get round the M25 before 4pm to avoid being stuck in a Friday afternoon jam,  but I planned to make a few stops to walk out the sciatica en route.   First stop Birchanger services near Stansted.  A worn out road surface leading into a jam packed car park almost made me head immediately for the exit - but it was already jammed with people trying to leave!  The reason we were travelling on the Friday was because with a week to go,  Raye rang up to say he had taken an extra gig at Hassocks British Legion on the Friday night.  Ms J and I thought it too much to spring it on the friends we were staying with that we needed to stay an extra night at short notice.  So we booked a room at the Hickstead Hotel near the gig where I aimed to have an hour or two resting before set up.  After a brief walk round the services we set off again - heading West round the M25 to avoid the tolls, a predictable source of jammed up traffic on a Friday.  I decided to skip the next services at South Mimms because that also is difficult to get into and we carried on round the M25 to the new services at Cobham where we stopped for a Kentucky chicken meal and coffee.  These services are new; and easy to access and park so we returned to the journey in good humour expecting a quick run down the M23 towards Brighton.  But hopes were soon dashed as we joined a tailback off the M25 into a 30 minute queue to get onto the M23 proper.  Major road works!  After that delay we had a fast run past Gatwick and onto the improved A23 towards Hickstead pulling up at the hotel at just after 4pm - so not too bad in the end.  It was a stormy early evening with plenty of thunder about and Jacqui decided to come with me to the gig for set up; so we set off at 5:45pm getting to the Legion car park at just after 6pm to find Raye and Graham already parked waiting for the place to open.  I had just got parked when Barry the barman came over to open up - we started our load in.  Not too bad here just have to watch out for 'elf n safety' issues in the back yard.   Actually set up didn't take too long and we were able to run through a few numbers before people started coming in.  We ran through 3 special songs Raye had requested.  "Brand New Cadillac" by Vince Taylor from his 2 i's coffee bar days,  "Sea Cruise" by Frankie Ford (that I had elected to sing) and "Reelin and a Rockin" another number Raye did in his Soho days.  I was surprised how well these went - particularly "Cadillac" which we really caught the pre-Beatles British Rock vibe with. 

Janice and Val (the other wives) arrived about 7:30pm and some other folks drifted in,  including Harvey Smith our long time supporter at this club.  But the club room was only about 70% full by show time. 

 The long suffering wives!

We got changed into our green shirts and appeared a few minutes late to open up the show with "Eyes".  Good sound - a bit dry though so I pushed the FX return up,  then good applause at our false ending.  The first few numbers proceeded on OK - a few errors here and there but nothing fatal!  I thought Raye was more on the ball than the previous year and he was playing a bit louder.  I had held the rest of the band levels down so we had a good overall balance.  After "Walk Right Back" we did "Brand New Cadillac".  For a first time performance this was good and we all enjoyed playing it.  Despite learning the solo like the record,  I couldn't quite remember it on the night and I ended up modernising it subtly;  and considering the audience probably didn't know it at all,  it went down well with the crowd. A couple more numbers on we arrived at "Smiling".  Graham knew I was doing this with ReTrio and kindly offered me the lead vocal on it.  It suited me because I could go on auto-pilot a bit more so off we went.  Raye pushed it along a tad faster than I am used to, and it may have come across as a bit hurried;  but it was well received by the crowd.  I announced it retrospectively as one Raye played with Jimmy Justice and the ExCheckers in 1962 pushing it up the charts to number 2 (I wasn't sure if this is true  and I since found it was number 9 in March 1962).  Then it was rock n roll business as usual through to the end of the set with "Wipe Out" - always a great finisher with the Checkmates.

We were disappointed with the attendance.  One of the reasons people may have stayed in was a massive storm over the area.  We found out later most of the power had gone off in Hassocks but the British Legion was spared!  We started set 2 with our usual rendition of the Checkmates Hits which the audience listened to politely.  This included "Never Know What You're Missing and Counting Teardrops" which are less ingrained in our psyche and harder work to remember.  We got through OK but Graham and I made mental notes to re-visit before the next outing!  Raye forgot the beginning to "Them There Eyes"  but somehow we got underway on the restart without anyone noticing!  After a few more standard songs from our set we finished with "Drums".  A bit ragged here and there,  but it was interesting to see the house lights dim and Raye bashing out a rhythm on the floor tom out front with a pair of those sticks that light up!  A great reception as usual.

We agreed to stay in the green shirts because, by the start of set 3, a few had left.  We tended to go through the motions in this set.  Second number in we came to "Reelin and a Rockin" one of the new ones.  Graham had asked me to hold the D rather than drop to the C as per a usual 12 bar in G.  I remembered it most of the time I think.   After a very well received "Saw her Standin There" we came to another new song "Sea Cruise".  Raye started with the bells on the bell of his ride cymbal;  I brought in strings on a low E to simulate a ships horn.  As I start the riff in A,  Raye shouts 'All Aboard'  and then we are into the sax riff to open the song.  In that sense it was similar to the Frankie Ford record - we did it faster though.  I did quite enjoy doing it but had trouble remembering the words;  however, Graham and I had the 'oooh ee baby'  harmonies spot on - just loved doing those and they are so catchy.  Jacqui said later it was stuck in her head as an ear worm for a couple of days.  The 25 or so folk that were left by 11:30 kept us encoring with "Eyes" and my choice of "Hound Dog" to finish a mostly satisfying performance by the band.

Raye received some welcome assistance in pack up and we were soon loaded and ready for off.  I had to be guided out of a tight spot in the car park,  but soon Jacqui and I were on our way to the hotel.  Slept well and long after a busy day and the took our time over an excellent breakfast before driving up to Haywards Heath.  We called in Tesco on the way and Jacqui suggested we had enough time to spend an hour at the Bluebell Railway before we were due at Jenny and Miles for lunch - so we did!