Chris Conway/Ray Garner

CHRIS CONWAY/RAY GARNER

Musician Pub 11th July 2024

Last night The Musician Pub saw a rather special gig... a celebration of 35 years as a professional musician for CChris Conway and a great performance it was!

First up was guitar player, RAY GARNER. Ray played electric and showed his versatility, and incredible talent, by performing some classical pieces, blues, originals and a jazz standard...

Rays playing was superb throughout generating a relaxed atmosphere in the room. Sadly not really my cup of tea, but he was, quite rightly, warmly received by the audience, and there is no doubting his absolute talent as a musician.

As Ray finished, up stepped Chris to deliver two super sets of Conway classics... He has an easy charm and always a great rapport with the audience and made it seem as though he was playing for selected friends in a living room.

It must have been hard sorting out a set list, but he concentrated on songs that reminded him of people, places and events throughout his career

For the full set list, see Chris's post about the show...

He opened with the classic "Leaves" about catching falling leaves to earn a special day the following year for every leaf caught... seems like good sense to me! This was followed by "Surpise me" dedicated to his wife.

Chris plays a range of instruments , and as he switched from guitar to piano spoke of his earlier days as a jazz pianist and avant garde musician and played some fine jazz piano during the the set

The first real comic song was "Fake News" which is hugely entertaining and funny but also makes some strong points.

The second set started with "Love Space Station" which i think in some ways summarizes him... more classics followed, then we got "Jazz Potato"... always a real winner with enthusiastic audience participation... the second set gave us several pieces played on the Kalimba, and "Love Song" which included a virtuoso performance with the bells... He ended with three absolutely wonderful classic pieces... the wonderfully absurd "Alien Jellyfish Song", followed by a personal favourite of mine "Superheroes Never Die" and with glorious "Three Headed Girl"

An encore was definitely needed... and tonight it was "Rainbow Real" played on two whistles... and that was it.

How do you summarize a 35 year career in the space of one gig.. exactly as Chris did last night!!... a hugely varied set covering every aspect of his musical career... every piece a gem and all played with Chris's warmth, commitment style and great ability.

And on top of this great performance, we were treated to his own memorable ight show!! (see the picture!)

Absolutely loved it... a great night...

Love... Peace... and Outer Space

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