Archived Reviews

First night at the new venue – The Hind – saw Ken Cross as MC and with introductions and parish notices – and adjusted lighting (!) – it started off with Mike Hughes on 12 string guitar and harmonica. He played ‘Danny Farrell’ then the Colum Sands song ‘The Note That Lingers On’. No time for lingering tonight though, as the evening was packed with performers. Stuart Shackleton next gave us much fine left handed picking, sounding beautiful with ‘Anchor For My Chain’ followed by ‘Tell Me Where The Time Has Gone’ written for his daughter Ann. John Redpath and Gerry Tapscott and the ever-present “Big Band”, as they are now called, came up next with the Carole King classic ‘Way Over Yonder’ with Gerry’s vocals sounding fine above the six instruments and then a seasonal ‘The First Leaves Of Autumn’. Peter Afendoulis was the first newer face (well to me) and very welcome. Peter used to be a regular at Cramlington. His first offering, with a fine voice, was the Paul Siebel song ‘Louise’ (taken from a Bonnie Raitt album) and then a request last played 20 years ago ‘Teenage Cremation’, his confident tribute to Elvis with great humorous lines about Pickfords Lorries. With their two new wonderful Taylor guitars, jiva provided two slick covers – Ralph McTell’s ‘Maginot Waltz’ played in ¾ waltz excellence and the old ELP track ‘Lucky Man’. They managed to hoodwink some of the Cramlington Choir into the unusual abrupt ending! ‘The Horse [editor: or should that be 'Hoarse'?] Whisperer’ was the first and a new offering from the ever profusely writeful Jim Wigfield together with his ‘Shit Goes Downstream’ giving a few wry smiles around the new room. To close the first half, Mike Jessop played Van Morrison’s ‘And It Stoned Me’ and Alan Hull’s ‘Winter Song’ which brought out a mass “howling in” close.

The break saw a new item arrive – a welcome tray of cheese savoury sandwiches provided by our new thoughtful hosts ( ! ), and then the obligatory raffle won by Brenda.

Dave Anderson kicked off the second half with a pair of lovely Tracy Chapman songs, ‘If I Lived Right’ with a tremendous instrumental middle, then the classic ‘Baby Can I Hold You’ from an 80’s album. Celebrating the birthday of his daughter Catherine, Paul Allen – billed as “the youngster tonight” – provided the self penned ‘Hope I Never Lose The Feeling’... I hope we never lose this man's writing or delivery, first class. Then with his own fine picked guitar tune to a Yeats’  poem, ‘When You Are Old’. Moving on quickly to some unaccompanied singing from Steve with ‘Home Boys Home’ and ‘The King of Rome’, allegedly a story about a pigeon but working well on at least two levels in the mind, nice to have some thought provoking deeper stuff. The guitarists' classic McTell song ‘Streets Of London’ was first choice of the traffic bound Geoff Pickard of Alnwick tonight, well played as always, together with a trademark stalwart Paxton tune – ‘Ramblin’ Boy’. And now time for the “two sound men”, either a reference to their character or gratitude for their endless endeavours on the desk – John Richardson and Dave Page, who provided an interesting combination on guitar for ‘In Your Dreams’ and another Ralph McTell song ‘From Clare To Here’ played with a most magical picked ending. MC for the night, Ken Cross got in next though unusually with steel rather than nylon strings, and played one great humorous song about the merits of a camping trip – didn’t get it’s title but enjoyed especially the excellent bass note runs from C through to G. Robbie Robertson's 60s classic band song ‘The Letter’ was the choice of John Baston tonight delivered with a characteristically bluesy feel and then to close proceedings, Jimmy and Carol with the “Big Band” giving a full sound on ‘Man Of Constant Sorrow’ followed by ‘Erie Canal’ taken from Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions album.

A most enjoyable and popular evening in the new venue. I look forward to Willoughby and Craig on 30 October to see how the room works on a Guest Night. Well ran by Ken (thanks Ken, I hope the reduced patter was appreciated!) and all.

Mike Jessop