What a night…! Absolutely mental.
Everyone who was at Riff’s Bar last night was treated to a total of 5 acts, all performing acoustically, in the end following Teabo’s last minute cancellation as a result of a sore throat. The poor guys have been gigging so hard lately it must have really taken it out of them for them not to show. Hope you’re feeling better soon buddy. But the remaining 5 acts didn’t disappoint at all taking the patrons of Riff’s through an eclectic mix of acoustic music that really did delight and in some cases surprise!
The evening kicked off with Ivy Tillsby’s Plastic Surgeon playing a selection of his own songs which, to these ears, seemed to have an underlying theme to them. I’m guessing that the ‘Surgeon’ has a fondness for whiskey or something as at least a couple of songs were clearly about the ups and downs of the golden beverage. But it would seem that the crowd were able to relate to his tales, especially when he talked about realising at 5am, following a night drinking whiskey, that you had to go to work in 2 hours. Yup, been there, done that as (it would appear) had everyone else in Riff’s last night!
Following on was The Squirrel (aka Paul Davies) who started off his set with his own songs played with just an acoustic guitar and his voice. Having seen this guy play before at The Vic in Swindon a few months ago (on the same bill as us coincidentally) I knew everyone was in for a treat and Paul didn’t disappoint at all. But the highlight of his set (and I think I can confidently speak for everyone present) was when he exchanged his guitar for a Hurdy Gurdy. The crowd was transfixed by this rhythmic, chanting instrument as Paul really put it through it’s paces. If you’ve never seen, let alone heard a Hurdy Gurdy, then you’re missing out. It’s an incredible instrument which clearly takes a lot of skill to play - and Paul really has that skill! Beautiful.
Up next were our old friends and stage-buddies, The Arbitors. Missing their bassist Maciej, Jason put down his drumsticks for the set and joined Ty and Richie on acoustic guitar up front. And Jason - you did a sterling job mate! Unfortunately, the first 3 songs or so were spoilt a little bit by a very dodgy cable connection on Ty’s guitar but Paul Davies came to the rescue with a loaner guitar so they could finish their set in style. The Arbitors songs were never going to be problematic transferring them to an acoustic sound as they’re strong strong songs. Ty’s voice was powerful and unique as always and the band’s surprise rendition of “Another Man’s Cause” by the Levellers was simply stunning and certainly had me singing along at the top of my voice!
The penultimate act was Billy Jon. What can you say about this guy except he’s an absolute star in the making. And he’s such a thoroughly nice bloke as well! His songs are amazing, well thought out and constructed with beautiful twists and turns that captivate absolutely. He can sing like there’s no tomorrow with a voice as strong and professional as the best of them and he’s got a wicked haircut. His set was incredible (even if you did overrun a bit Bill!) and kept the crowd dancing and cheering until after the last chord had faded. Brilliant job mate thank you.
And so, that brings us to the final act of the night… Us. I’m not going to review our own set for two reasons. Number 1, how stuck up and self-absorbed would that be? And number 2, I didn’t play that well and don’t have a lot of positive stuff to say about my own performance - although both Lee & Andy did a fantastic job of keeping me on the straight and narrow and working through my little cock-ups!
However, I just want to say thank you to EVERYONE who gave us such great feedback after the show. Your comments have given us a lot to think about and I was literally shell-shocked and speechless (doesn’t happen often) from the positivity people showed us. It would appear that (cock-ups aside) we were right to believe in the strength of the songs acoustically as, according to those who came and spoke to us after the gig, they really shone through.
The work we’ve done on the vocals and harmonies really paid off as well and we’ve come away from the gig with a lot to think about with regards to how to structure the songs in future. In particular, I think we could be seeing a rebirth of “Wake The Nation” in the near future as an acoustic song. It definitely worked so much better than the usual electric version we do (in my opinion anyway).
Our next gig (at the time of writing) is booked for 5th August at 12 Bar but I’m sure we’ll be getting out and about before then. And we’ll keep you posted on any developments. In the meantime, I’ll be posting the pictures from last nights gig in our gallery section (check the Media page) as soon as I’ve received them from Puttyfoot Promotions.
To finish, thanks to everyone who came down to Riff’s Bar last night (and especially to those who put something in the Beer Bucket ;)). Thanks to Darren & Lisa from Puttyfoot Promotions (that last beer went down a treat). Thanks to Andy & Tiggy at Riff’s for having us and thanks to Lee & Andy for putting up with my sore hand and occasional cock-ups :).
So until next time, keep it real!
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