casapete

Great 1100 strong crowd at The Empire Theatre in Liverpool last night to see 'The ELO Experience'. Fantastic theatre with Beatles history etc. One of our best gigs for a while, helped by a massive PA!

I quite enjoyed some of it, without liking it if you know what I mean! Gary Barlow's band as the house band were superb as usual, along with Steve Sidwell conducting the orchestra. Good variety of acts, although could have done without Il Divo & Ronnie Corbett (WTF?). All played live to these ears too, unlike perhaps some other acts at ..errm... recent festival appearances. And what about John Miles, still hitting all those notes in 'Music' aged 65- brilliant.

Think it will be good for you - John's knowledge and expertise in dealing with many varied types of music will be a big help I'm sure. He's got great ears and bucket loads of patience too, perfect for a first time session. Think you'll enjoy.

Done a number of things there over many years (although not that recently) and found it a good place with helpful staff. Engineer John Spence always great to work with, and managed to get my bass sounding good in a few minutes (no mean feat!)- usually ended up playing in the control room too. Hope you get it sorted, cheers.

Glad I did n't read this before going to his Leeds gig last night! Did n't detect any tension there with the band/out front sound etc, so guess it was maybe onstage monitoring giving EC grief as suggested? No excuse for a strop like that though....

Henry Spinetti in current Clapton line up too!! Happy days....

Just back from seeing Eric Clapton at Leeds tonight, with Dave Bronze in the band. Yet again superb playing all night, using previously mentioned blue Jazz and also an Epiphone Jack Casady goldtop with flatwounds for the acousticy part of the set, which sounded brill

Coda is probably the best shop I've been in - great stock / staff / service etc. Despite looking small from the front, they have so much stuff it's unreal. Whenever we are gigging in the area we always find time to call in. Last time I was there I got chatting to a guy who turned out to be the Gibson Europe rep - gave me some insight into finding the perfect 335 for me! Just need to save a bit more now..............

[url="http://www.gigwise.com/news/91167/roger-taylor-ive-formed-my-own-queen-tribute-band"]http://www.gigwise.com/news/91167/roger-taylor-ive-formed-my-own-queen-tribute-band[/url]

Radio 2 have been playing this for a couple of weeks or so now - stopped me in my tracks on first hearing too. Great stuff.

Heatwave used to play at The Trog bar in Hull in the mid 70's, think they were called Chicago Heatwave at that time. Even back then they were obviously destined for better things. They had a local agency managing them, and somehow were still doing working mens club gigs when they had a top 40 single!!

I use an early Ipad for my pub gigs. Am in 2 different bands, both with well over 100 songs apiece so reading is okay! Find it fairly easy to use / navigate - just save parts into a documents app and go from there. Main problem for an old gimmer such as myself though is screen size - I'm at that stage where its quite hard getting the right distance to see the screen perfectly. Guitarist in the band uses a laptop with a bigger screen which is easier to see, but only works well with laptops where the screen opens 180 degrees flat. Ironically I always bring backup pad with me just in case though..........

I usually get boxes of 20 Duracell Procells off ebay - around £14 delivered, use by dates good for around 3 years, job done.

Just putting myself out there for anyone needing a dep in August / September 2015 and possibly after that too. I've lots of experience with function bands as well as pub outfits. Great busker, can read simple parts and sing backing vox . Good gear (Fender/GK),own transport & reliable with no issues (this is beginning to sound like a dating ad!). Based in East Yorkshire but will travel for right gig(s). Cheers, Pete.

May well be worth investing in a wireless system. Great for soundchecking as you can hear for yourself what is / is 'nt going on. Samson Airline ones can be had s/h for around £60, useful bit of kit for the dosh IMO.

I've used Strings and Beyond a few times - great prices / service / delivery etc. www.stringsandbeyond.com

Whilst I agree somewhat with the 'seperates' posts above, I've nothing but praise for the Yamaha EMX mixer amps - mine does 500 watts a side and is plenty loud. Great for pub gigs with the right cabs.

Damn the Torpedos era - Refugee, Here comes my girl etc. Great album/songs.

Don't know if they are busy, but The Blueflies from York are a great band, details here [url="http://www.theblueflies.com"]www.theblueflies.com[/url]

Looking at the 'strings ie' site, am a bit confused as to why a single pack of D'Addario EXL170's is £14.80, yet a twin pack is £36.79!! I usually buy strings once a year from this place [url="http://www.stringsandbeyond.com"]www.stringsandbeyond.com[/url] Even after allowing for postage / possible duty they are still good prices - e.g. D'Addario twin packs $23.99.