Hey gang
Well after a week away from work (but not from working, oh dearie me, no, not with 25 years’ worth of accumulated crap to empty out of a house), it was a light relief to load up the ol’ van with the usual catalogue of amplifiers, guitars, lights, and associated gigging paraphernalia for our outing to the Railway Tavern in Fishponds.
However, after some thought, I decided to take the catalogues back out again, and put the actual equipment in instead.
Ben decided to give his spare bass a rare outing, but after two songs remembered why it was relegated to spare, and switched back to his regular weapon of choice. (And, just in case anyone is mean-spirited enough to forward this on to my dear other half, I would like to clarify that I, personally, do not possess any “spare” guitars. Oh, dearie me, no. They each have specific tonal qualities and functionalities, and thus all are absolutely and fundamentally necessary. I trust that clears that point up once and for all).
However, a few songs into the first set, we espy many blue flashing lights outside the window. Ben and I instinctively duck down out of sight, but they are not here for us.
It seems the local constabulary is staging some kind of impromptu street theatre “happening” outside. We never did find out what; but they cordoned off the whole street for the rest of the time we were there, which proved a very effective deterrent against the public coming into the pub, and meant that we played to a rather more select (i.e. small) audience than usual.
No such problem the following afternoon – Party In The Ponds, held this year in Vassal’s park, has grown massively since we last played it. My guess would be there were several thousand there, and a nice big shiny new stage to jump around on. Marvelous!
We were a bit tight for time, as the schedule was running a bit late (as is mandatory for this type of event), and Ben had to leave pronto straight after our set, as he was depping for another band later.
Nonetheless, we had an absolute blast, it was great to have plenty of room to prance about in, and absolute heaven to be able wind my amp up above the usual indoor levels. Things really do sound so much better like this…
Somebody kindly sent us a photo, which unfortunately rather gives away one of our trade secrets. As you can see in the post picture, Abby is in fact an eight foot tall giant woman, who controls Ben and myself onstage like puppets, by means of strings attached to our noses…
Next chance to experience this remarkable phenomenon: –
Saturday 10th – The Old Mill, Portishead
Last time we played here we had a total blast, and we’re thoroughly looking forward to Round 2. For those of you Portishead locals that missed us there last time (you know who you are!), this is your chance to redeem yourselves… J
Square on
A