Fylde Vintage Weekend and Farm Show

Last night we were out in the wilderness of the Fylde countryside (a very nice place to be!) We were playing in a huge marquee at the Fylde Vintage Weekend and Farm Show to a packed and very receptive audience who were determined to get the most out of us.

When we got there we found these two gentlemen building a stage for us. "Will it be alright?" we were asked.

"I was thinking about having a curving staircase to come down as we start," I said.

"Aye, keep thinking..." came the answer.

The show hadn't really got going until today, but the marquee filled up and there were several familiar faces who came to see us at the Heskin Hall show. Some indeed said they had come especially to see us again. I love an optimist...

I had had a rather frazzling couple of days fighting the weather to get back from Newcastle in time for the gig (see this blog entry for details) and was running on sheer adrenaline. This led me to make several instant comebacks to a large group by the stage who were quite witty and we built up a fantastic atmosphere during the night.

We started playing around 8:15pm and at 11:45pm I announced the last song but that was just a challenge to them and we played seven or eight encores, finishing well after midnight and eventually getting away sometime after 1:00am!

Now this was a field and not particularly well furnished with street lighting...

Apologies to anyone trying to sleep in the caravans we kept going past and reversing around whilst we tried to find the gate...

Also apologies to the good people of the Fylde who may have been awoken by the raucous and ever so slightly rude roars from the audience as we played "Living Next Door To Alice" as one of those encores. Well really, I was shocked...

To the young lady who kept shouting for us to do a Lady Gaga number... next year...

Photos once again courtesy of Jeannie Lancaster.

Myerscough College Open Day 2012

Apologies - it's taken me a while to get round to writing this entry - the gig was on Sunday 10 June - twenty days ago!!!

But straight after we finished playing I had to dash home, grab a bite to eat and drive down to Bristol for the night before carrying on to Yeovil for work on Monday morning! And somehow life has been a bit like that ever since!

Anyway, the weather was quite kind for a change. We had a good day and a long day and my fingers were a good couple of inches shorter at the end of it after pressing on the guitar neck all day...

As always at Myerscough, there was lots for visitors to see and do so it was nice when people stopped to sit and listen to us for the afternoon! Seeing as we had all the bunting left from the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, we went all patriotic again!

Scorton Village Diamond Jubilee Party

You know, that rain that started last night kept it up all night and into this afternoon. So it was with some relief that we knew there was an alternative to the open-air field for Scorton Village's Diamond Jubilee Party.

We unloaded into the Village Hall and set up in a corner, whilst we waited to see whether anyone would brave the rain to turn up.

By heck they are indeed made of stern stuff in Scorton - the place filled and all the seats were taken and they still came in until there was a whole line of people standing at the far end. A special Jubilee Grace was said and then I got to play the National Anthem on the keyboard. Something I had only played once before and that only half an hour previously as a practice when we first set up before anyone came in! (Sorry, your Majesty...)

Miss Franny and Miss Jeannie had surrounded us with bunting and very pretty we looked too... It did mean that sneaking off stage for a trip to the loo involved ducking and choking or limbo dancing but hey... why not?!?

We kept to the less raucous songs for the afternoon and by the time we got to the end of the afternoon we had clocked up nine hours playing within a period of 21 hours given that we had been playing last night in Chorley. My finger ends are a touch sensitive...

Many thanks to the wonderful people of Scorton for asking us to perform and for all the lovely comments we were given at the end of the afternoon. It was a pleasure to play for you.

Heskin Hall Steam Fair 2012

Last night saw us at the Heskin Hall Steam Fair once more - we've been playing this event every year since 2006 and it is always a brilliant night for us.

A huge marquee was our venue for the night - half again as big as in previous years and as we set up only a couple of tables had people sitting at them. I needn't have worried though because the place filled to capacity with a considerable number of people standing close to the bar area as well as the seating area.

We were kept busy. In fact we played an incredible four and a half hours, finishing with a version of House of the Rising Sun.

For some reason my guitar effects pedal was giving me palpitations - it cut out once or twice but seemed to come back ok after a vicious kick... Going to have to look at that and hope it behaves itself today!

This afternoon we are playing for the Diamond Jubilee Party at Scorton Village. The weather is a bit wet - it was raining last night as we carried the gear back to the car and from the state of the field had been for some time.

It's not let up since then so I think we're going to be in the Village Hall rather than on the field but we'll do our best to inject a bit of cheer!