Archived Reviews

A relatively quiet night at the club, with one or two residents away through prior commitments but still, a good crowd, and a very good night’s entertainment. Jack Burness of The Corner Boys fame was the guest and he brought along his cafe society friend and club favourite George Welsh.

John Redpath got the night underway. After adding to his pile of chewing gum on stage he kicked off with Michael Chapman's 'Under The Trees' and followed that up with the Loudon Wainwright classic 'Dead Skunk' which got everyone going. He showed off his fingerpicking further by finishing with 'Hesitation Blues'.

Resplendent in purple, jiva took the stage and, as usual, gave us three faultless songs: '4+20' by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (not many people know that - well not me), Allan Taylor's 'Back Again' which got the Cramlington choir going, and finished with Linda Thompson's great love song 'No Telling'.

A fine start to the evening before the main event.

The Corner Boys have always been popular at the club so it was good to see Jack on his own. He has a fine voice and it was good to hear it with just guitar accompaniment and occasional harmonica. You never get short-changed with Jack. In his first half we were treated to 8 songs - too many songs to list here. Some of the highlights were his opener John Prine's 'In Spite Of Ourselves', 'Nondescript' (which can't be autobiographical), 'You Come And You Go' leading up to a grand finish with Nicky Knacky Tak The Happy Baccy, better known as 'Let's Tairk Dorty In Hawaiian'.

Then it was time for the usual short break and long raffle (which, for the second week running, the ticket bought after me won!).

As Dave Anderson had brought his guitar and John was busy with the sound, John asked Dave to do his second spot. Dave sang two of his own compositions - 'My Life' and the catchy, sing-along 'Falling From Grace'. jiva kept the choir going with their own great 'joiny in' songs 'Dream On' and 'One More Song'.

The second half from Jack didn't disappoint either! I counted 11 songs, again many his own fine compositions including - 'Crown And Anchor' (a poignant song dedicated to his father), Dylan's 'You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go', 'Lonely', then a great medley of two songs he seamlessly joined together - his own 'This Old Town' and Henry Thomas' 'Fishing Blues', 'When The Beer Starts Talking', Christie Moore’s 'Holy Ground' and the powerful political song 'Powerless'. These and in between some funny reminiscences too! Finally he finished the night with a song all performers would be able to identify with - 'Up And down The Old A1'. And for the encore we all joined in with 'My Old Kentucky Home'. Phew!

Another great night. As I said, we certainly weren’t short-changed. I hope Keith didn't short-change him!

Terry Fletcher