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I'm really looking forward to Elton John’s last-ever performance. I'm not going to watch it, I'm just really looking forward to it.

I played a small festival gig yesterday with two different bands. The main band I'm in (The Hulla) organises the festival and so Friday was spent setting up the stage and marquee, sorting out the sound etc. I put a three piece band together (The Rip) to fill one of the afternoon slots in the festival and that went really well. By the time we went on there were about 200 people milling about and we got a better than expected reaction from them as we went through 45 minutes of rock covers. I lost my voice two weeks ago (I forgot where I left it - that's age for you) and it's been slowly getting back to 'normal' but my rendition of '20th Century Boy' was a bit enthusiastic and by the time I came to sing 'Comfortably Numb' I was a bit gravelly and it was hard to hit the higher notes. Our guitarist was helping with harmonies but I just had that feeling of 'this isn't working'. Then our sound guy gave me a big grin and a thumbs up and it really lifted my spirits. I managed to get through the final chorus sounding a bit Joe Cocker-esque but fortunately it was the last song I was singing lead vocals on and I managed to grunt the 'harmonies' to 'Purple Rain' and 'Sunshine of Your Love'. We've already decided to keep going with The Rip as we all seem to be on the same wavelength and the reception we got at the end was very positive. The Rip The Hulla went on at the end and, with one 10 minute break, we played for 4 hours. By the time we started there were more than double the number of people there (we'd sold 500 tickets and there were some walk-ins too) and the atmosphere was amazing. Our singer is very good at working with audiences and this crowd was up and dancing almost from the first song. The singer (on a radio mic) ended up leading a conga line through the field during '500 Miles' and completely disappeared into the darkness, still singing, during our rock 'n' roll medley. All good fun and we ended up running out of songs as the 'One More Song' chant started so we revisited a couple of earlier toons. The Hulla always go down well with this crowd (this is the third festival I've played with them) and the time flew by. The Hulla Band Kit wise, for The Rip I played my newly acquired Ibanez EHB1000s through a Plethora X3 (giving me compression and a choice of chorus or phaser, with the vintage 4x10" cab sim selected). I was using a Behringer BDI21 but it developed a buzz and so I swapped it for a passive DI box. The signal was split into FOH and a TCE BAM200 into a Trace 1x10" and a Warwick 1x10"+tweeter. I played a Crafter electro-acoustic guitar directly into FOH for Comfortably Numb, and for the end solo and the solo in Purple Rain I used a McMillen 12 Step keyboard controller with a string patch to fill the sound out. With The Hulla, I used my Sterling HH through the Plethora and directly into FOH with no back line. Our sound man had got such a good sound and a nice mix in my IEM that I didn't need anything behind me and I think this will be the turning point where I finally have the confidence to go ampless in The Hulla. I am tired this morning, though. 😃

Last night saw the first gig of my new band, the (Dave) Jackson Five. It was at a party in a shed, so we're not on the same level as some of you guys above just yet, but it was fun and we went down well. Only our drummer has been a regular gigging stiff recently; the singer - Mr D. Jackson himself - has done the odd one here and there, but one guitarist and myself hadn't been onstage in fifteen years. The other guitarist had never played live at all.... All in all it had the potential to go bad, but nothing like that happened, we had fun, went down well and got another booking out of it. Oh yes, it was hot. Mustn't forget that. Before we went on there was the obligatory Ramones-esque line-up photoshoot: And here's me looking like I'm not enjoying myself at all, although I really was!:

After last weeks hot and sticky festival gig this week it was a hot and sticky gig in a small pub for a birthday celebration. A small but appreciative crowd and an altogether enjoyable evening. I wasn’t on my best game for some reason - a bit of hand cramp in the second set due to dehydration I suspect (and the drummer being enthusiastically fast…). That’s it for a few weeks while I have some ongoing medical treatment, missing it already 😞

The 77’s played in Maidstone again last night, this time at the Druids Arms in the town centre. First time for us at this venue and it went pretty well. We were on a small stage in an outside courtyard, which was nice given the heat. We played pretty well, and I got to use my new amp which sounded awesome (Darkglass Alpha Omega 500). we managed to get the new digital mixer and powered speaker to working as well. The other three all used IEMs which they said worked well, I stuck with the wedge monitor which I couldn’t hear that well. I would like to get IEMs as well, but will likely need to get some custom ones made, as I already have some hearing loss and tinnitus so need ones that have a good seal. Next Saturday we are playing in Maidstone again, at the pub next door!!

Excellent days gigs with Clutching at Straws. Morning was cabling up for the evening gig. Then a set up in baking full sun at a community event in Elsea Park, Bourne. Really, really hot. Gallons of water and sunblock. Then charged off to Langtoft Lakes for the private party that I cabled up earlier. Superb gig, dance floor rammed. Left the house at 10:00, home at 00:45 for a much needed shower. Followed by hoovering everything out.. crawling with ants from the evening’s marquee gig. Three 18” fans on stage. Cool as cucumber. And fed and watered at both gigs Fresh strings on the Dimension. Awesome, awesome bass sound. Really cranked the GK today, which they really like. Boost knob for the win!!

Strawberry Fest is a huge awesome annual event, thousands of attendees. We were at Weislers Restaurant who provided an upscale tent. We had a very respectful size crowd. The band was on fire though I didn't think much of how I played. 😢 Overall a good gig with a nice pay day. Blue

Played the Royal British Legion Club in Watchet last night. Had to load in/out from 200yds away using 4-wheel flatbed trolley provided by the venue. Apart from that, it's a decent gig and last night's audience showed their appreciation in the usual way - by getting drunk and falling over 😊. Re audiences, the trend we're noticing is that, despite allegedly being the best rock covers band in the county, we're playing to smaller crowds nowadays. Thankfully, while the audiences are going down, our money is going up - figure that one out!? Much less job satisfaction though. No matter, as I had other "reasons to be cheerful". First, we nailed it. Second, this was my first gig with the Ampeg SVT-700 PRO recently bought from Basschat member Paul_S and I love it! Reason for buying is that it delivers 600W into a single 8Ohm cab. Works a treat with my FRFR Monaco cab manufactured by BC member Stevie's company LFSys and my custom bass built by BC member Andyjr1515. LONG LIVE BASSCHAT!!

Just got back from the first Weeds gig in 8 years (but we have been in existence since 1984 with various members, some famous and some not (like me!))... It was actually at a big house party in Sheffield where the band was also staying. I took my full 2k PA to add to the drummer's monitors and we spent all of yesterday rehearsing - as our singer and rythm guitarist couldn't make it we'd prepared a backing and vocal track and we were going to use a click track for sync. Singer was replaced by a blow up Johnny Rotten. And a DJ was going to spin samples and run tracks for us. So the house was packed, maybe 80-100 people so more than I'm used to 😁. And most of 'em danced! Some even came up and said "Now then. That weren't too bad!" So now we're ready to take on the world, we may even finish our long unfinished recordings and do another gig! Here's a tiny snatch... VID-20230625-WA0011.mp4

Second night of a double header, in a new (to us) venue too. Grays Inn in Aberdeen was the place. Things got off to a positive start, relatively easy load in from a lane round the back of the pub then only up a few shallow steps, pretty decent - and there was no waiting around as they had already the tables from an area facing the bar where we could set up. But man, it was hot. There's no point in air conditioning a bar in Scotland 360 days of the year. Unfortunately, this was one of the 5 where it would have been nice! Towel in use during load in and setup, hadn't even got started playing yet! First half was a bit quiet, we started at 9 but the beer garden was open until 10 so that limited things. But we had a few folk in, and the singer's getting better at his banter so we were having a laugh with the people who were there. More folk came in when the beer garden closed so that helped. Second half went well, got some folk up on the dance floor - if in doubt, play Summer of '69. Yes, pure camembert, but it works! Oh man, it was a hot one though. I was towelling my face after every song and I was thoroughly damp by the end, ewww. But it was a successful debut at a new place and we've got a repeat booking from them so all in all I'm pretty happy with my night's work. Also, probably because of playing last night too, I personally thought I played really well, very few mistakes, band was tight, honestly it felt like being part of a tightly working machine. Love that, when everything clicks. The aforementioned back lane had become a LOVELY wind tunnel when we were loading out - so good that we hung around a bit after packing the cars because it was so refreshing. Cue adopting the pose from The Shawshank Redemption after Andy escapes from the poop tunnel. Epiphone Jack Casady for bassage last night, and it was sounding fscking amazing. I love that bass so much. Get a room!

Did a weird sort of 2-in-1 gig yesterday in Cambridge at a corporate “family fun day” event. First hour was the “rock band for kids”, with about 3 kids in attendance and the rest of the audience slightly amused adults. Second set was the same musicians but cranking it up a notch for the “grown up party band”. Was hot, humid and sticky and our drummer nearly fainted near the end of the second set but we made it through. Left home 9.30am, had a shite journey up (took 4 hours, haven’t driven a manual vehicle for that length of time in over a decade!), but given it was a day event I was home almost exactly 12 hours later so can’t complain Basses were my ACG Finns (a 4 and a 5), amp was the Trace TE-1200 and cab was a single BF Two10S, and all sounded fecking marvellous even with me at the controls. Today I am recovering from the crappy drive by fixing a shower and dishwasher, coz I know how to live 🤓

It was very hot and humid. We played at the 'Fox & Hounds' in Croxley Heath, which is near Rickmansworth in Herts. The pub is in a street with few other commercial establishments, just houses so regulations dictated that we had to play inside (and have all the doors and windows shut by 9pm) when almost everyone was in the beer garden. The landlady said the pub had been quiet for a couple of days; she thought Glastonbury might have had something to do with it. Anyway, a fan was provided, which blew my long hair into my face for much of the gig and I also had to stand like the Ramones as the drums were slowing shifting forward during the set and I volunteered to keep one foot on the mat they were on, while avoiding the cymbals. We've been asked back though so at least the landlady liked us. Our set up

Well, thanks for all your support, folks. It went pretty well; I made a couple of errors but no howlers, the punters seemed to enjoy it and we had a lot of fun. We got another booking out of it, so it can't have been that bad! Apparently there are some decent picture floating around, so I'll post one when they land. As it is, here's us before we went on, looking proper special:

Well Axl's not getting any better is he. Just need Slash to take his hat off at the end to reveal a bald bonce with all the curly hair stuck to the hat like one of those scottish tartan and ginger ones, just to finish it off.

Ended up seeing one band at Glastonbury, which was Kelis and was great! Caught the first few songs of lizzo and it sounded great and also the lottery winners who I enjoyed watching a few songs, very entertaining. Somebody asked why the singers sound a bit ropey in the bands. Most likely doing multiple shows a day, it's a nightmare getting around the site to each show and sleeping in a tent and getting little sleep. I took it easy and the earliest I got to sleep was 2:30 and eas up by 6! I did 7 performed across 4 days and last nights 11:30 set was a struggle as was this mornings set and I'm a bass player!! 🤣 a highlight was standing a few yards of Paul McCartney as we watched the sun set from the Glastonbury sign!!

Also wedding - local, arrived early to setup the PA so they could do their first dance to it, so setup was easy (apart from all the children helping), rest of the band turned up later, we started earlier than we though, but then they gave us a lot more money than we thought! Long gig, but apparently we sounded fine, it was the first gig with the old guitarist as the new one decided it wasn't for him and the old guitarist decided it was for him. Played my new bongo, it sounded great and was good to play. Finished at 11, packed up, home and put away by 12.

Had a fantastic gig at Full Circle in Watertown last night. It’s a club I’ve wanted to play for ages, and the classic rock band I’m in got booked there. We had a fantastic crowd who danced from the 1 st song to the 2nd encore! The stage and acoustics were 1st class! To make it even better I received many compliments on my tone from other players! I’ll post pictures once our guitar player sends them out! Have a fantastic rest of your weekend!

Still drying!! 🤢

Back to the coach house in Paignton, our favourite venue. The power cut when were setting up. It transpired that one of our powered PA speakers internal fuse blew. We tried a spare and that blew too. Luckily the pub has its own old Vox PA in the corner. We rigged it up as a stack to one side and connected it to one of our desk outputs. A bit of tweeking and we got a good sound. We had to cut a couple of songs from the first set and played well. Next problem us getting it fixed as it's a class D powered. On the way out there was an incident just up the road from the pub with the police and ambulance in attendance. When I got home the air ambulances flew over and apparently flew the person to Plymouth.

Last night was a wedding celebration for about 150 in a massive marquee with a proper stage, out in the wilds of Wiltshire. We were well looked after with a place to change and a meal in the bride’s family’s house, and whatever we wanted to drink. I played my ‘73 Precision (recently fitted with rounds for the first time since I’ve owned it) through my Demeter head and BF Super Twin, and it sounded fantastic as you might expect. I finally got to set up my own IEM mix properly and that’s a game changer. The crowd loved us, in fact the bride and groom barely got in a couple of steps of their first dance before just about everyone piled onto the dance floor. I’m just about recovered now!

This is simply a completely different league. Superb vocals, band, mix and set list.

You can have cracking musicians, terrific mix etc but the tunes have to be quality and these are all classics. I am not an EJ fan (that might well change) but this is real quality. The guy is 76 years old ffs.

Now, I'm an old punk so naturally I dislike Elton John intensely but, you know, a bit of musical history innit so I put the TV on... I had no idea I was carrying around an Elton John bucket list of songs I wanted to hear, top of the list, Pinball Wizard! And f*** me if I wasn't a bit tearful during Daniel. Seriously, if Kiki Dee turns up to do Don't Go Breaking My Heart, well, I'll be all done with music. @stingrayPete1977 is bang on, those bass settings should be compulsory. What on earth my eighteen year old self would call me this evening I don't know.

I’ve tried to like The Smiths time and time again, I really have (Marr & Rourke were just wonderful together) but I just can’t get past Mozza’s vocals and this is from a bloke who learnt to like Geddy Lee’s voice. However, Mr Astley seems to have solved my dilemma.

Wedding. Played. Waited. Played. Melted. Great food. Home. Bed. Win.

Well, on the final furlong. Basically, the finishing is finished and now just have to do the shielding, fretwork, electrics and final assembly/setup. The final stages of ebony sand-only and alder/maple Tru-oil slurry-and-buff is coming out nicely:

Whatever the sound crew have done with the bass should be set for every Glastonbury gig forever, every band must use a Stingray and never touch the dials again! First time ever heard what the bassist is playing.

Back home for good this time, thanks Vincent aka @Rollo for letting me buy it back!

Every band at Glastonbury this weekend...

Our second gig with the Mexican band is now in the books. Crowd was slightly smaller but we still managed a good house. We recorded the night and we should start to hear stuff in the next several days , after mixing. It’s party music , and it works. The two trumpets are just nailing the parts. We’re pretty happy campers , the morning after.

Just been to see my dad, he's 95 now. He had zero interest in music until he met my mum around 70 years ago. Mum liked classical music, so dad kind of got into that over the years. He generally thought that stuff that me my bro and sister listened to was a terrible racket! Anyway, why am I saying this ... I got over there and and he said "I watched Glastonbury all evening, the Foo fighters were very good, the new drummer did well" I almost fell off my chair!

Hi, that was me and thank you. It's a very battered alpher bass! Played 4 shows already this weekend, 3 more lett to go.

I've generally shied away from DIY luthiery. I'm quite pleased with this repair job though.

Is it safe to say Stingrays win Glasto?

After grumbling all weekend about the sound/mix, this is spot on. Can we have GnR and Blonde play again with this mix!

When I saw Elton a few years ago, Bob Birch (God rest his soul) was playing bass for him. He used a SR5 too and it was just a masterclass in sound mixing as well as bass playing. Just wonderful.

Great sound for Elton's set and Matt Bissonette bass sound is stunning.

How much better is Elton’s sound than GNR? That stingray is slicing through the mix wonderfully.

Rick Ashley does AC/DC 👍

Seriously guys invest in one or two of these. Drummer has one and i have one blowing across the stage front. Planning to get another for other end of the stage (floor 😂) area I got mine from Amazon but B&M and other stores do cheaper versions. Dave

I have a new found admiration for Lewis Capaldi after watching him struggle his way through his set. Can’t be easy dealing with stress and anxiety, on top of Tourette’s, when trying to perform on the main stage at such a huge festival

He's a bit of an old punk. Having the fanciest, most expensive instrument wouldn't suit him. I'm not convinced you'd even hear the difference between a Mexican P bass and the top level US P bass in a heavy rock mix anyway. No one other than a bassist would ever notice the difference anyway

My primary, 1993 USA G&L ASAT bass. Blue

Well, that was great fun. Played in the Balaclava Bar in Fraserburgh last night - a bit of a hike but it's fast becoming one of our favourite places to play as the folk up there are usually up for a good night! First half was OK, bar was not super busy but we still had some folk up dancing so can't complain. A very convenient swell in audience numbers came in just in time for the second half. Lots of folk up dancing, enjoying themselves, great interaction with MOST of the audience. We ended up playing for 15 mins extra because they kept asking for "ONE MORE CHOON" Joe Public continues to surprise and dismay in equal measures. First the good - a young lady came up to us and asked if we knew "Brain Damage" by Pink Floyd. We don't, but it's always encouraging to see people asking for stuff which came out before they were even the formation of a twinkle in a parent's eye. Then the not so good - some old Sir Richard Head III who had been annoying the whole night, asking us for stuff we don't play then getting annoyed at us for not knowing (err, we're not a jukebox, and we play well rehearsed covers of songs we know thoroughly - we're not a jam band who can play "anything" but with varying degrees of success - not dissing those kinds of outfits, it's just not something we want to do). At the end he came up and started bending my ear about not knowing song X, Y and Z and telling me I should be improvising or some pish. It took all my powers of professionalism to not tell him to fork off. Jesus, if you don't like it, get lost, there are 50 other people here having a great time, you won't be missed! ADDITIONAL: back to the good - I must have been in a good mood - as I was tidying up, a young lad came up to me and asked if he could have a go on my bass. Normally I'm a hard "no" but for some reason I risk assessed it, he seemed to be on the level and not pished so I said OK. He was very respectful and was pretty good too - played me a bit of RHCP and some Muse and he was really good. Thankfully it was unplugged - I don't want to do myself out of a job! Polite guy, thanked me afterwards, and went on his way. Happy days. Played the G&L Tribute LB-100, nerds. I was going to take the Triad, but at rehearsal on Thursday I noticed that the truss rod could do with a tighten and didn't get around to doing that before the gig. That LB-100 is one heck of a bass. For £350 new, it was an absolute steal. If the question is "which P bass should I get?", the answer is the G&L Tribute LB-100, even if you've got a grand to spend IMHO. Buy two! No, I don't work for G&L, nor am I sponsored by them (one can only dream!)