February 2007
20/02/07 10:08
Sunday 4th. February,
The Willows, Salford
Tonight we are part of the star-studded line-up paying tribute to the funny
Man of the 60's music scene, Freddie Garrity, who sadly passed away
last year. The Willows is a venue that continues the great cabaret
tradition of the 60's and 70's and for this occasion the place was
packed to capacity. We arrived around 7.00 with plenty of time to get
into party mode before our spot at around 8.30. The backstage area
was buzzing with different people arriving from all over the place,
some like The Dozies and The Trems, having made pretty long journeys
to give their services for the night. Having just come off stage, The
Dakotas share our dressing room and recall some recent and quite hair-
raising stories about poor old Wayne. Looking very smart in our
Whitsuntide clothes, we make our way to the stage, but because there
so many people on tonight, we're only doing a short six-song set. As
usual, Dave makes sure the set is choc-full of hot tunes, evident by
the enthusiatic response we got. Afterwards it was time to relax and
get further into the party mood as we watched our colleagues from
Beatsville also receive some great applause for all their very worthy
efforts. The Trems finish the night off with also a scaled-down
version of their usual excellent set providing a great end to a
superb and worth-while evening.
Friday 16th February, Redburn Social Club, Scunthorpe
Not such a long journey as it's only about 45 minutes from my place
to Scunny, although a fairly early arrival as we're providing the
lion's share of the equipment tonight. Sharing the bill for this
special 60's night is our mates from Beat-land, The Dreamers and The
Fourmost, both of whom are traveling a fair way (Coventry and
Preston). Thankfully, the club's organisers are very sympathetic to
our rock'n'roll cause and provide an ample amount of sandwiches and
constant supply of tea and coffee, of which we're all very
appreciative of.
Setting the drums up I discover I've mislaid my snare-drum stand back
in Donny somewhere and set about trying to remedy the situation.
Kevin from the Fourmost steps in, but this would mean he'd have to
wait till the end of the night to get it back, as we're scheduled to
go on last at around 11 o'clock. Thankfully, local musician John
comes to the rescue and lends me his stand and everything is hunky-
dory once again. After sound-checks we head for the peace and quiet
of the lounge while the audience are already swarmin in and it's only
just quarter to seven! In the lounge we exchange rock'n'roll yarns
with Fourmost drummer Kevin and guitarist John (thanks for the pint!)
supplying some crackers about various people, who of course shall
remain nameless. The poor old Dreamers had been subject to a
particularly bad journey taking a grim five and half hours and on
arriving looked pretty road-weary. However after suitable
refreshments they were quickly back in show-biz mode and gave the
audience one of their usual sparkling and fun-filled performances.
Next on it's Billy and the boys, The Fourmost who soon get the dance-
floor filled with their solid set of 60's favourites, with of course
their own hits included. Meeting up with a couple of mates, Peter and
Iain, I'm into my third portion of pie and peas, (the non-fattening
variety) as we enjoy the 'Mosts set. By the time we go on it's 11.45
and by now we're feeling somewhat past it. Never-the-less, being the
old troupers we are(?), we assemble onstage and get rockin' like it's
3 o'clock in the afternoon! With our usual mix of 60's fayre and
rockin' r&b, the set goes down well.
Wet-through (that'll teach me to wear a jacket!), we peel off our
costumes and make for a hasty getaway. Once again, club officials
Agnes and Pete are more than hospitable providing further and welcome
cups of tea. Eventually loaded up , it's off back home for a somewhat
uncivilized arrival at around 2.15 am.(yawn).
Tonight we are part of the star-studded line-up paying tribute to the funny
Man of the 60's music scene, Freddie Garrity, who sadly passed away
last year. The Willows is a venue that continues the great cabaret
tradition of the 60's and 70's and for this occasion the place was
packed to capacity. We arrived around 7.00 with plenty of time to get
into party mode before our spot at around 8.30. The backstage area
was buzzing with different people arriving from all over the place,
some like The Dozies and The Trems, having made pretty long journeys
to give their services for the night. Having just come off stage, The
Dakotas share our dressing room and recall some recent and quite hair-
raising stories about poor old Wayne. Looking very smart in our
Whitsuntide clothes, we make our way to the stage, but because there
so many people on tonight, we're only doing a short six-song set. As
usual, Dave makes sure the set is choc-full of hot tunes, evident by
the enthusiatic response we got. Afterwards it was time to relax and
get further into the party mood as we watched our colleagues from
Beatsville also receive some great applause for all their very worthy
efforts. The Trems finish the night off with also a scaled-down
version of their usual excellent set providing a great end to a
superb and worth-while evening.
Friday 16th February, Redburn Social Club, Scunthorpe
Not such a long journey as it's only about 45 minutes from my place
to Scunny, although a fairly early arrival as we're providing the
lion's share of the equipment tonight. Sharing the bill for this
special 60's night is our mates from Beat-land, The Dreamers and The
Fourmost, both of whom are traveling a fair way (Coventry and
Preston). Thankfully, the club's organisers are very sympathetic to
our rock'n'roll cause and provide an ample amount of sandwiches and
constant supply of tea and coffee, of which we're all very
appreciative of.
Setting the drums up I discover I've mislaid my snare-drum stand back
in Donny somewhere and set about trying to remedy the situation.
Kevin from the Fourmost steps in, but this would mean he'd have to
wait till the end of the night to get it back, as we're scheduled to
go on last at around 11 o'clock. Thankfully, local musician John
comes to the rescue and lends me his stand and everything is hunky-
dory once again. After sound-checks we head for the peace and quiet
of the lounge while the audience are already swarmin in and it's only
just quarter to seven! In the lounge we exchange rock'n'roll yarns
with Fourmost drummer Kevin and guitarist John (thanks for the pint!)
supplying some crackers about various people, who of course shall
remain nameless. The poor old Dreamers had been subject to a
particularly bad journey taking a grim five and half hours and on
arriving looked pretty road-weary. However after suitable
refreshments they were quickly back in show-biz mode and gave the
audience one of their usual sparkling and fun-filled performances.
Next on it's Billy and the boys, The Fourmost who soon get the dance-
floor filled with their solid set of 60's favourites, with of course
their own hits included. Meeting up with a couple of mates, Peter and
Iain, I'm into my third portion of pie and peas, (the non-fattening
variety) as we enjoy the 'Mosts set. By the time we go on it's 11.45
and by now we're feeling somewhat past it. Never-the-less, being the
old troupers we are(?), we assemble onstage and get rockin' like it's
3 o'clock in the afternoon! With our usual mix of 60's fayre and
rockin' r&b, the set goes down well.
Wet-through (that'll teach me to wear a jacket!), we peel off our
costumes and make for a hasty getaway. Once again, club officials
Agnes and Pete are more than hospitable providing further and welcome
cups of tea. Eventually loaded up , it's off back home for a somewhat
uncivilized arrival at around 2.15 am.(yawn).