So ... home town gig, new material, excellent venue .... the runes were all pointing towards an excellent night out.
No worries it was Fantastic
Half my family have been long time fans of The Men They Couldn't Hang so when there was an opportunity to see them and Bluehorses on the same bill, there was lots of pressure applied to be there. The logistics of this did not come into the equation.
The day started by me getting up early to begin work (isn't flexy time brilliant for this). After the girls had left for school Sue packed the dog off to solitary at the local kennels, she would never have survived on her own for the 14 hours we would be gone! By lunchtime I had completed my alloted quota of work, so the preparations began, with loading all the video and sound recording equipment into the van, along with several bags of goodies to help sustain us through the rest of the day and into tomorrow.
By 3pm we were parked outside the school gates, amid all the 4*4's jostling for pole position. A slight stutter when the girls were not at the head or the mass exodus, had me thinking they had forgotten the revised arrangements and were heading for the bus, but they were soon settling into the back, and we were off.
The journey started off much better than I expected, for a Friday afternoon, as we zoomed off to Winchester and up the A34... only a mild hold up at Midhurst ... and onto the M4. As we approached Swindon things started to clog up, from there to Bristol was a nightmare typical of the Friday exodus. However once we were over the bridge everything eased up. By 7pm we were parking up behind the coal exchange, and ready hunt out the venue.
The venue was surprisingly easy to find and we turned up just as the BH sound check was starting. Rapidly we surveyed the hall - a converted church with a balcony at the back for added effect - and decided where the cameras would be and how we would operate. I was making a second attempt with the headcam - this had last been tried (unsuccessfully) at the flowerpot - I was planning to use a laptop to record onto.After the sound check the waiting began... this was made better by the arrival of Martin (ex of this parish) and his lovely wife (coincidentally she teaches Rhayn Spanish!!! - its a crazy world). Much gossiping and catching up was done by all.
The show slot was an hour long so the normal set was re-worked and massaged to fit in. There were tunes from the set that has become the norm over the last few months ... starting with Cabbage train, and into Witch in Wedlock. then Billy Boy and Barbara Allen. So to use a motor racing analogy, the band had begun with a racing start and after four laps every thing was purring. Time to introduce a new trick.
When I saw the set list I thought this was a re-introduction of an old tune from around 5 years ago - called some thing long and full of consonants in Welsh, but shortened to Hen for us English speakers. However, instead of a gentle floating song with Liz and the harp, it transpires that this is a new one completely and has to be heard to fully comprehend how wrong I was.An experiment into the existentialism of the phrase "oi!".
So after grabbing the fastest lap record, the pace did not slow as, with grins all around it was straight into Night Visit. Finally the relative calm of Ostara signalled the beginning of the pit stop, leading into the frenzy of Morrisons as the show was re-fueled, then the start of a re-working of the standard material, as the end of morrisons lead into the middle section of Gravel Walk, and then, continuing the analogy, the out lap as we roared into the raucous (or should that be rock-us) finale to Gravel walk.Everyone on stage was really enjoying this, and with huge smiles They introduced the next number. A new tune with old words .. The old tune was from the original set way way back in the dim and distant past.. Raggle or Raggle Taggle Gypsy to give the words their full title. However I have not heard the words sung to such an "in your face" rocking backing before ... *fantastic*
The show was brought to a climax (bang on time) with the appropriate tune - Hoedown. After acknowledging the crowd the band floated off the stage, well proud.We packed everything up as The Men They Couldn't Hang got into full swing and then joined Sue and the girls on the balcony for the rest of their set - I must say it is an excellent position to see a band from with a superb view of the stage.
We piled back into the van as the Cinderella hour ticked over, and an uneventful drive back saw me hit the pit by 4am... everyone else having grabbed some sleep on the journey.
Next day Steph refused to take off the New Rocks (on loan from Lizzy) .. I guess she went to bed with them on. She is under strict instructions to take care of them and bring them for inspection at Spratton.
So ..........
you have been warned - next time you will be warmed (as an old headmaster once said to me).. If this is a portent of the new album - I can't wait!!
