Another night of absolute quality at The Crown yesterday. Chilly outside and not exactly Tropical inside, but what superb music our guests produced. All of them could have topped the bill elsewhere! And each of them, an audience might more usually be invited to pay to see. Whereas here-all this for free. Even with the disappointment of Malc and Gill and K.C. Jones having to pull out late due to illness, we still had a capital bill which would have cost you double figures in your average Village Hall, Festival or Theatre!
Nunc ( Niecey Flossie and I ), kicked the evening off, as the punters were still rolling in, with "After The Gold Rush" and " We Can Work It Out."
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| Nunc. They CAN work it out. |
John Kearney followed, tried to do two only, but was caught out and ushered back on for "The Jolly Boys." Des Patalong had brought along his brand new CD, and treated us to three numbers from it. "Lowlands" was roared back enthusiastically by the audience, despite it being one of the saddest songs I know. And then, proving what a versatile family we Veaseys and Lindsays can be, he sang a song from the album written by my sister, Diane. "The Call." Rather sweetly.
Daisybell looked and sounded the best I'd heard them so far. (And I've seen them a lot. I thought of the name you know! "Let it Go!" someone shouted from the floor as I introduced them, and reminded folk of this salient fact). Three cracking songs from the ladies/girls. wimmin, including "Down To The River To Pray " (a keeper) and "Mirrors" (ditto). With some stomping Rock Accordion from Sally Anne Veasey. Yes, another one.
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| Action shot of The Daisies |
Somerville Gents, having strayed across the Border checkpoint from South Warwickshire, concluded the first half Floor spots. As they'd come a long way we let them have four, and they demonstrated a broad canvas of harmonies and musicianship. Qualities which I'd seen previously, but most of the audience hadn't. Intriguingly, they opened with a version of "The Poacher's Lament," (which is a different song/tune to "The Poacher."). The only other band I know who did this song used to be ...Black Parrot Seaside. We did it unaccompanied, with four part harmonies. The Gents did it faster and set to music. Interesting.
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| Somerville Gents a long way from home |
Phil Hare then completed his first set. He opened with a clever song featuring me and Malc and Gill. And Nuneaton. Things then became very complicated for me as, besides organising the raffle and compering, someone had asked me to film his slot. I had a few false starts featuring his knees and shoes-but managed to get about 35 minutes recorded, hopefully to relay privately on to someone who was a fan of Phil's music but too poorly to attend. Phil whacked out instrumentals, self-penned songs and covers, with a remarkable dexterity which had guitarists in the audience (and there were many) drooling.
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| Phil. And THAT hat |
Nunc did a Steel Eye-style medley of "Bedlam Boys" and "Rave On " to commence the second half, before our 33rd debut act in 5 months, Dragonhead, warmed up for Phil's final slot. And warm us all up they did. A local band, who had run Nuneaton's previous Folk Club, they got the audience tapping their feet and rattling their jewellery. Cajun, Trad-they flung the lot in. You can see them again soon at Bulkington and we'd certainly welcome them back.
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| Dragonhead. Back on home turf. Our 33rd guests in 5 months! |
Phil completed the evening, with another peerless set including a made-up song about Romantic Guinea Pigs which was right up our street. I explained to his wife that my Niece was laughing so much because her Guinea Pig sometimes appears on Facebook, with a foul-mouthed teddy bear. Phil completed his set with a medley of clever instrumentals incorporating Angie and a few other slipped in tunes, plus a lyric about Mockneys, "Everyone's a Hard Man Now." Even though the hour was late, the hardy souls remaining joined in with the refrain with an enthusiasm which would have made Danny Dyer blush.
Not as big an attendance as last month, but still just topping sixty or so at one point, and still the biggest I've seen at an acoustic venue in my ten visits to other venues so far this year. We didn't spoil Phil's night entirely by telling him Liverpool had won. (He's a Toffee, you know). And I think we made his long trip from and back to Cambridgeshire worthwhile.If you missed him, he's back in the area, at Bedworth Folk Club, soon. I bought three of his CD's at a bargain price-so if you weren't there-you missed out on that, too.
Tom Veasey ( yes we Veaseys get about a bit), drove the Sound desk with the aplomb of James May wrestling with a John Deere. He's happy in his work is young Tom, and here's a shot of his beloved desk, just for him, taken from his podium at the back of the room.
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| Tom's Pride and Joy. Phil Hare on stage about a mile away. |
