Butlins,Bognor BEATLES IN CONCERT 2010 TOUR 09/03/2010

Back(in the USSR!!! couldn't resist!!)once again at Butlins Bognor regis for another installment of the Beatles in concert tour. We didn't have to set off till quite late in the day as we found out we weren't on stage till a little bit later in the evening so we left around early teatime,we made good time and got there well in advance. We loaded in then headed off for some food(as you do!)With our stomach's rather full and rearing to go we set our equipment up on stage and performed the routine line check(very quiet sound check to make sure everything is working).There were a few technical problems with monitors and stuff but the stage crew sprang into action and quickly remedied the faults. After going back to the dressing to make ourselves look pretty it was showtime and up came the curtains,not a massive crowd this time,a little bit thin on the ground but it wasn't long before we and indeed the audience were in full swing. To say there wasn't too many people there it was a good atmosphere and everyone joined in with the merriment of singing and clapping etc. It was all over in a flash and soon we were loading up the van and heading off home once again. Thanks to the crew for working very hard,Great night!!!!

Butlins,Skegness(festival of the sixties) 07/03/2010

An afternoon performance at Butlins after a late night getting home from Burnham(not good!)we were a little road weary to say the least. Skegness has a great load in facility so we used this to our advantage and took all our own backline into the venue so as to set the scene so to speak. We were the first band on in centre stage of the afternoon performances and were on a wing and a prayer hoping our voices would kick in and deliver. Steve one of the sound engineers,and a vital member of the crew at centre stage had done a wonderful VT intro for us to come onto using old film footage of The Beatles themselves and the legions of fans going nuts etc,it was great,and as Ed Sullivan introduced us the curtains came up and....we needn't have worried it was pure adrenalin,we were on fire,the voices kicked in and we rocked!!!! What a response,absolute knock out,the audience were fantastic and very loud, i've got to say of all the times we've performed at Butlins over the years,this has got to be one of, if not the best crowd reaction we've ever recieved!!! The room was jumping when it came to 'Hey Jude' and the singing was deafening,a great feeling of acheivement came over us as with cries of "more more" we sang 'Twist and shout' as the encore and the guests were ecstatic. We'd like to thank everyone for the wonderful reception we got,and thanks to all the sound and lighting crew for doing a fantastic job as usual,nice intro Steve,thanks a million!!!

Burnham holiday village,Burnham on sea 06/03/2010

A very uneventful journey saw us arrive for the first time at this venue,on arrival we seeked directions to the showbar from reception. The load in was not a pleasant one(steps,steps and more steps!!!!).We'd been made aware that this was a caravan owners event and that we were on this night with another band who had just beaten us to the load in,they were on stage setting up as we brought our belongings in. It really was in my opinion a bad idea to have two live bands on the same stage as it was very cramped and leads were everywhere(who ordered spaghetti?) Anyway after some deliberating and shuffling around we managed to fit both of us on.The other band in question 'The merseybeat legends' were on first,and they did a great job reproducing some of the early beat classics from the sixties,top job lads!!! As soon as they'd finished they emptied as much off stage as poss and then we were on. It wasn't our usual type venue but we got a good response all the same,with a few getting up to dance(always difficult when you have small children with you)and getting them all to clap and sing a long(hey jude never fails!!!!)It was just one short set so as fast as we went on,we had finished and the dreaded steps were looming again(Noooooooo!!!!!).We soon had our stuff back in the van and we were on our way.Pleasure to work with The merseybeat legends,very enjoyable show all round!!!!!!!

The Cavern,Liverpool 04/03/2010

Back at the Cavern once again on this Thursday evening,we arrived quite early and loaded in down the famous spiral staircase.It's always a late night here(the first of three sets starts at 10pm) so we had loads of time to kill,but we were on a mission,we'd been contacted by Mr Ian whitewick requesting we do the song 'in my life' which is one we don't do very often as it has a rather difficult musical solo in the middle. But this night we had to do it as the request was to be used as a means for Ian to propose to his girlfriend(aaaaaaaahhhh!) so we used our spare time to brush up on the song. We struck up with the first set to an ecstatic crowd,keeping it generally early rock n roll. Then came the second set,and fourth song in we asked Ian to come up on stage, 'in my life' was played and......he went down on one knee and popped the question........she said YES!!!! there was big cheers from the crowd and lots of tears from the lovely couple,bless em! We finished the second set with some middle period music then rocked the place to the wee hours with the third,a great crowd the place was jumping, fab atmosphere. Would like to thank John once again for doing a great job mixing the sound,stunning job,and thank you once again to Ronnie for the great warm up set before us,nice one mate.

Best wishes go out to Ian and his brand new fiance!!!!!!!

Club Amadeus,North Yorkshire 27/01/2010

First time at this venue and with it being a night club type venue we didnt have to arrive early!
We didnt quite know what was in store for us here,as we've done night club venues in the past and they either work or don't.The load in was a bit of a pain as we were on the second floor(yep!stairs,lifts etc,ho hum!)We set up using the 'in-house' pa system which incidently was fantastic and awaited showtime. We had quite a bit of free time on our hands so once again we put it to good use by rehearsing potential new material in the dressing room. It was showtime,we entered stage right and were quite surprised,most of the clientele were the middle to more senior end which came as a shock as we really expected young revellers.
We kicked off and straight away the audience responded which was great,the dance floor was busy they were singing and clapping etc and it turned out to be a real storming night,everyone enjoying themselves us included,i might add we got some very nice comments once again from many of the guests,this always makes you feel as you've done a good job. We loaded out down the 'stairs fom hell' and we were on our way home. All in all a very satisfying and enjoyable evening,hopefully we can do it all again very soon!!!!!