Budsbabe's Report:

The Vangard 10th January gig.

 

Tonight's show featured the same set-list as the 3rd Jan but with a terrific rendition of Barry Kable to bring the evening to a climax. This was a most unexpected treat for those of us familiar with this song. The harmonised intro to this version of Barry gave me goosebumps.

 

Tonight was also the birthday of The Vicar, Mr. Stuart Hunter (who sure is lookin' good and doesn't look a day older than he did last week.) *wink*

 

And talking of which, the keyboard absolutely adds another rich layer to this music. Having said that though (and no offence to Stu, as this is just a matter of my personal taste) I was glad that the organ style intro to One Good Year was dropped for tonight's show. That just didn't jive right with me for some reason.

 

Russell mentioned that his thematic of last week had ruffled a few feathers and this tapered into one other unexpected addition to the repetoire of the show, sung with relish and evil glee, the chorus being "take me in your mouth" but to which I suspect the sub-text was more along the lines of "shove it up your ass" (the "it" referring to the morally outraged attitude to last week's thematic, before anyone gets into an apoplexy of misinterpretation!) *grin*

 

There were more very interesting tales about our friend Mickey and his dubious escapades. (But having had the chance to meet and speak to Mickey himself this past year, I can only say that my, albeit briefly formed, opinion was one of a funny, "happy to be alive" and even "sweet" kinda guy, despite his maverick past.)

 

Throughout the night (especially early on) Dean seemed to be having a few problems with his instrument, but he disappeared backstage for a bit, did some fiddling around with it, and appeared quite satisfied with the outcome..... Which is just as well as we were to later be treated to rockin' versions of Folsom and Testify which needed that guitar input spot on.

 

By the way, I defy anybody to sit through either of these songs without moving to the music. I guess that's the only problem with the Vanguard (which I otherwise really like as a venue) - the lack of dancing space.

 

Maybe it was my imagination as I didn't look at my watch but this gig seemed shorter than last week's. The crowd was responsive and appreciative but maybe not on the same scale as last week's audience. There were no hecklers as such, although one older guy did push his way to the front to "say goodbye" to Russell before leaving - despite the fact the show wasn't yet quite over. LOL!! I'm guessing he was a bit the worse for wear although he did come from New Zealand.

 

The concession stand was there again, this time selling the new tee-shirts with the stained-glass window feature and the new name of the band. They still had some left in size medium so I bagged that but I'm sure they'll still be on sale at the other gigs for those folks travelling in to the later show dates.

 

That's about it for this go around. I'm struggling here with this lap-top as the space-bar on the keyboard is jammed and making it very slow and labourious to type stuff. And besides, it's a lovely day and I'm about to go out and enjoy the lovely harbour scenery and get some fresh air - Lord knows the prediction for the weekend weatherwise up the coast is hot (by my standards anyway - it's snow and ice laden in Scotland right now!!)

 

I'm looking forward to seeing how the next few gigs will pan out, being in the very different environs of Yamba and Coffs (as opposed to The Vanguard). Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.

 

BB