casapete

Just back from a gig for a small company’s Christmas party in Beverley. Our acoustic duo played for them at a summer party last year, but this time we played as an electric three piece, adding a drummer. The gig was in an upstairs function room of a large pub, so it meant dragging all the gear up two flights of narrow stairs which was a pain, but plenty of space to set up with only 50 guests. Set up by 7pm so we went for a walk up the road to our regular venue The Sun Inn where some friends were playing and had a chat and a drink there. Our duo is playing there tomorrow afternoon, and it seemed to have a completely different feel to it on a Saturday night with lots of people milling around - maybe just the Xmas thing. Back to our venue and there was a Ska band setting up in the main room downstairs, but we didn’t catch them as we had to do our first set. It went well, got a few up dancing with some well chosen tunes. Second set went even better, with most of the guests on the dance floor. I was just winging it, my mate on guitar shouting out the songs, some of which we managed to join together to keep them dancing. Dep drummer was great, not too loud and good tempos. Company boss seemed very pleased with us, so may hopefully get the gig next year! Used a replica P-bass into my Rumble 500 combo. No pics of the gig, just one as we finished soundchecking.

Same with me. 50 years of being in bands, some 15 of which were spent putting up with tw@ts because it was my living and I needed to play. Fortunately the last 15 years has been completely the opposite, and I was lucky to be in a great band earning money with great like minded people. Since semi retiring I now play with my best mate in a duo, and an old mate in a blues trio so it’s just a pleasure going to play local gigs for me.

Difficult to nail it down to 5 of each, but today it would be - Bass - James Jamerson Duck Dunn Paul McCartney Bill Wyman Bob Babbit Guitar - Chuck Berry Keith Richard Eric Clapton George Harrison BB King

These are the Ibanez AGB 200, part of their Artcore series. Your pic shows the distressed tobacco burst finish, but they’ve also done them in violin sunburst, a dark cherry/ brown, white, greyburst, natural, and also still currently available in matt black! They are easily confused with the AFB200 from the same series, which has a deeper body and a wooden bridge. Again, still available in any colour so long as it’s black!

I’ve always liked Sheryl right from that album onwards. I think her Glastonbury appearance in 2019 made me realise how much I still do. Her band are up there as one of the best IMO, especially guitarists Peter Stroud and Audley Freed. - both amazing players.

I think that’s why the use of the term ‘kick drum’ came about .

It was amazing Lozz, he began playing ‘Blackbird’ and then the stage started rising. 82 years old, no safety barriers so could have been problematic but ended up amazing. People in the front few rows couldn’t see him though!

More pics from McCartney last night, care of my daughter.

I went to see Paul McCartney last night at the Co Op Live arena in Manchester. My son in law is a massive Macca fan, and being in a wheelchair asked if I’d accompany him so I was happy to go, despite large venues not being my favourite. He had reserved disabled parking online, but on arrival it was evident that the spaces were already taken up - there was the local derby of Man City vs Man Utd taking place at the Etihad next door, so 53,000 punters there and a further 23,000 at the gig meant it was extremely busy. We eventually found a space that had enough room thanks to the help of the car park staff, and got into the venue quite early. The gig was AMAZING! One of the best concerts I have ever seen. From the opener ‘Can’t buy me love’ it was over two and a half hours of non stop brilliance. The set consisted of material from throughout Paul’s career, and was chosen really well. Quite a few numbers featured very rocky arrangements, with both the guitarists ( Brian Ray and Rusty Anderson ) playing brilliantly. All of the band were truly superb, augmented on some songs by a fantastic 3 piece brass section. Paul was on top form, his vocals really good and his bass playing top notch - used his Hofner all night into Mesa amplification. Brian took over on bass duties ( Fiesta red Precision and Epiphone Jack Casady) when Paul was playing guitar / piano / mandolin / ukulele. Plenty of special effects and poignant video footage on some songs, I was absolutely spellbound throughout. First time seeing a Beatle for me, and an unforgettable evening.

Saturday night we ( The Alligators ) were playing at a pub in Bridlington’s old town. Audience varied in size from the start, at one point we played to 4 people and then later around 40! Had a hen night party in for a while which was quite interesting - they all danced to one or two songs and then gradually moved on to other pubs down the high street. Overall an okay night, until two of the ladies started being a pain by harassing an audience member so we stopped playing and finished early which was a shame. Such a pain when this happens, but as there was nobody able to deal with them I felt it was our only course of action. We got paid and the staff apologised, hopefully we’ll return there in 2025 but must admit I’m personally not that bothered which is a shame.

Rod just bought a gig bag from me - lovely bloke, easy transaction too thanks. ( Apologies for not inviting you in for coffee Rod, had to be at a gig 40 miles away fairly sharpish! )

Blimey, that’s a bit harsh? Surely the whole point of clip on ( any?) tuners is being able to easily correct any tuning anomalies on the fly during the set. I know there is some dislike for clip on tuners out there, but didn’t realise it was such an issue.

Just seen this - the Ryedale Blues Club is based at the Milton Rooms in the centre of Malton, N. Yorks. Having seen the illustrious names on the schedule, I’m already getting imposter syndrome 7 months before I play there with The Alligators!

First gig for a while with blues band The Alligators at a nice little pub ‘The Imperial’ in Filey, which is a small seaside town on the East Yorkshire coast. Very quiet when we were setting up, but gradually more punters arrived to make it feel better, and they were very appreciative of our efforts. The landlady is a big music fan and we have a few more dates booked here for 2025, mainly Sunday afternoon gigs which I really enjoy. Gig went well - a few minor things forgotten - but overall an enjoyable evening. Used my passive Precision Lyte into the Rumble 500 combo. Roads quiet on the way back so made it home by 1pm. We are playing just down the road from Filey tonight at The Queens in Bridlington, so pretty much the same journey again for me.