Category Archives: Diary

Torquay tonight. Baring Gould Festival tomorrow.

Hope to see a few folks tomorrow at Okehampton. I’ll be doing an hour or so chatting about music in general for the Wren Trust at the Baring Gould festival about 4 in the afternoon assuming we all haven’t been blown to kingdom come by hurricane Sybil. (Torquay tonight!) Torbay is certainly looking a tad brisk as I type. No more Fawlty jokes. The locals are sick of them!

Countryside Restoration Society

Rather interesting show for the Countryside Restoration Society at the Royal Geographical societies base in Kensington. Very nice crowd indeed apart from the elderly member who thought it was tantamount to ‘Sacrilege’ to play music beneath such hallowed portals. Never been sacrilegious before! Ford help us!

Spiers and Boden

Very sad to note that Jon and John are doing their farewell shows. They remain, for me the most exciting folk outfit I’ve seen and heard for years. They actually knocked me out totally when I first heard them and have continued to do so ever since. Great musicians and good blokes. Just re-arranging my schedule so that I can actually see them one more time.

 

spiersandboden.com/live-dates/

Why it works!

One of the key factors in this years tour is the trip to Germany just before. We use this small club tour as our rehearsal for the main UK tour. We can relax and experiment with the set and get it into shape in small, very friendly gigs. We also have a great time socially and have a bunch of mates out there.

By the time we got to the opener in Sidmouth last tuesday (In aid of hospicecare) We were very well rehearsed and raring to go. We play down the promotion of gigs like this because its relatively small and will probably sell out just in the immediate area. Its also gratifying to see new people at such a gig. They will be responding to the nature of the event rather than being fans of the band which is excellent given that its our patch. Our core audience are more likely to be going for the Torquay show which is the main regional concert this year.

The Apex at Bury St Eds was just brilliant both in atmosphere and enthusiasm and it is the perfect foyer to get out and chat to people in. We have a lot of messages of get across this year, not least the fact that here will be no SOH gigs until September 2014. Steve will be embarking on his mammoth ‘grow your own gig’ tour which is mostly in village halls and community venues. Miranda and Rex have a full diary of duo gigs and I have a huge combination of solo events, tours with Feast of Fiddles and the Bully Wee Band, not to mention the first Phil Beer Band tour for a while. The reason we won’t be making any SOH festival appearances in 2014 is because I’ll be running the sailing and music trips  during june/july and august. This is a huge undertaking and will make any other gigging impossible. Thanks to the gang once agin for allowing me the freedom to do this!

We loved the new venue in Norwich and thanks once again to Steve Nunn for promoting it. Thanks as always to the Pattersons for their endless hospitality and lins cheese scones!

First time also for us at the castle in Wellingborough. I did a solo show there two years ago which was lovely and I’m delighted we finally made it to the main auditorium. Good fun and very chatty crowd in the bar.

Finally. By far the best show we’ve ever done at the winding wheel in Chesterfield. Promoted by Mick Peat. Nice one Mick. Lovely to see a bunch of friends there as well.

Most of all, thanks to Vaughan and Gwen for faultless organisation and to the best crew on the planet.

Chris (Sound engineer). Rob (Monitors). James (Lights). Simon (Tour manager and Merch). Richard (Truck Driver).

Looking forward to the next leg!!

 

 

 

Opening Week

Well well. What an extraordinary week its been. There seems to be a different vibe this year with some great audiences and a general feeling of enthusiasm. These have been certainly some of the best and most enjoyable shows we’ve ever played. I don’t think its ever been quite as tight or together as it is now. Thanks to everyone for coming and the team for making the ride so smooth. Looking forward to the next leg!!!