Paddy McCullough/Andrea Kenney/Jacek Polanski/Graham Wheatly

PADDY McCULLOUGH/ANDREA KENNEY./JACEK POLANSKI/GRAHAM WHEATLEY

orso Cafe 30th June 2024

Last Sunday of the month and another chance to sit outside ORSO and enjoy another lovely afternoon of Music in the Streets, organised by Paddy McCullough

Paddy opened proceedings with a relaxed laid back set, while encouraging passers-by to come and listen. He was joined on a few numbers by a fiddle player . As always, a warm and enjoyable set, demonstrating the bonhomie that characterizes these sessions

Next up was Andrea Kenny. Andrea live is a force of nature... she writes some superb songs, is a terrific singer, always performing with huge power and passion... as demonstrated during this cracking set. If you haven't heard her recent album "Passage of a Time" do yourself a favour and get hold of a copy!!

A complete contrast next, Jacek Polanski opened with a piece played on his native american indian pipe before delivering a superb set of laid back blues, very much in the tone of Mississippi John Hurt. Jacek is a fine singer and superb guitar player, always creating a lovely warm feeling with his performances... another great set.

Finally up was Graham Wheatley, pressed into action at the last moment... i was really enjoying Grahams performance but sadly had to leave shortly after he started... no reflection on the performance, i had to leave to make another appointment.

All in all... another lovely sunday afternoon... throughly enjoyed it

keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues

Threaded

THREADED

Musician Pub 30th June 2024

Sunday evening after a very busy day back at the The Musician Pub for an absolutely enchanting wonderful gig.

Threaded were something very different, and a really lovely breath of fresh air.

They are a trio featuring a husband/wife duo and a best friend, and that closeness shows in the warmth and feeling being emanating from stage to audience.

A very different sort of line-up, with Rose playing clarinet and bass clarinet, Jamie guitar and Ningning violin. The band play predominantly instrumental pieces, which still tell stories.

The banter between songs is always warm and friendly, as well as informative and interesting, and for me is a huge part of the joy of the performance. The band have worked in theatre settings, and they aim for the music to paint pictures... and it does!.

In amongst the music were four songs, Jamie perhaps handling the majority of the vocals, but all three sang, and sand so well. The main joy though is the overall quality and feel of the music... three highly accomplished musicians playing and singing beautifully to create a magical whole.. absolutely beautiful

I loved this band and gig!!

Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues

Sons of Liberty/Blue Lena Band

SONS OF LIBERTY/BLUE LENA BAND

Musician Pub 30th June 2024

A night of full on rock'n'roll at the The Musician Pub last night.

First up were a new name to me, the Blue Lena Band. They came on at full tilt rocking with energy and style promising much. Despite the quality of the musicianship and that each number was a cracker, i personally felt that it needed a bit more light and shade and became a bit samey... perhaps they gave a couple of songs too many.. having said that, they are a fine rock'n'roll band.

Headling were the mighty southern rock band, Sons of Liberty who delivered their customary high octane terrific set of rock'n'roll. This band are an object lesson in how to do it...

The band line up across the stage then simply erupt into their show... you cant take your eyes off the performance... they are never still, an all action performance. The band has more than their fair share of charisma and energy and draw an audience in instantly.

Russ Grimmett is a superb front man and singer... full of personality, fun and energy, and a great rock singer... joining the audience at times to lead the community singing of the choruses, while twin lead guitar players Andy Muse & Fred Hale bounce around the stage, and in Fred's case spin round and round in tight circles, while delivering superb guitar work... Mark Thomas contributes some awesome bass playing and back up vocals while Steve Byrne drums up a storm throughout.

The band truly rock from start to finish, delivering their excellent songs with fire, energy, joy and great musicianship from start to finish... if you love hard driving southern rock delivered with real quality you won't see better than the Sons of Liberty.. absolutely awesome!!

keep music live. keep music real... support your local venue

Levy Circus/Kiera

LEVY CIRCUS/KIERA

Musician Pub: 26th June 2024

This was not one of the great nights at The Musician Pub. Two new names to me but i do like to see new artists so was happy to go...  

First up was KEIRA... A singer songwriter delivering a few of her own songs and a couple of, i thought, unlikely covers from Peggy Seeger and the Foo Fighters. I believe that she hadn't been playing a lot lately and there were signs of rustiness. Her singing was reasonable, but the guitar playing was elementary. However, it is difficult to be fully objective about the performance due to the ignorant rabble who didnt have the maturity or courtesy to stop talking and laughing out loud throughout the set.

At a music gig whether the performer is brilliant or poor, they deserve to be shown the respect of the audience shutting up and listening to them.

After a brief break THE LEVY CIRCUS came on and stressed that they are medics by addressing and commenting on other medics in the room.

Their set started with some nice guitar work before the band came in... The standard of musicianship in the band is quite high, they appear to be fine players. Sadly however in the quiet moments it was clear that the chatter was continuing

They perform mainly their own songs, with a couple of covers, which sadly i didnt recognise, but their own songs were fairly basic and uninspiring... the music was overall quite pleasant, i didn't dislike it, but it didnt in any way inspire...sadly i found them uninteresting and monotonous... it has to be said though, the audience seemed to thoroughly enjoy it

Not a gig I would care to repeat

keep music live... keep music real... support your local venue