casapete

It’s just the right time for me Dave. Get my pension next month and want to retire from touring and being away from home to spend more time with my partner and family, and going to see more live music! First played with the band in 2009, then permanently since 2011 so been with them a good while. They are a great bunch of people to work with, and will really miss them and the crew. Before that I was in a function band for 16 years, again gigs all over the UK and some abroad, so it’s been my professional life for around 30 years, as well as nearly 20 more before that as a semi pro. Am blessed to have managed to make a living doing something I love for so long. It’s obviously going to be a massive change for me, but plan on continuing with the acoustic duo which I really enjoy, along with any dep gigs that come along that I fancy doing. Can’t ever imagine not playing at all!

Thanks Daryl. It’s a great theatre but not particularly architecturally interesting like some others we play at. Still a great gig though. Am intrigued Mart!

Last night I began my 20 gig countdown to retiring from The ELO Experience with the annual visit to our hometown gig - Hull New Theatre. As usual it sold out so we had around 1300 people in. Slightly different this year as we had a flying PA which involved a lot more time and manpower to set up. However the improvement was definitely noticeable to the audience ( and me too, being non IEM’s!) so well worth the hassle and expense. I dropped a couple of silly clangers but nothing drastic and the band as a whole played well considering our last gig was mid November. Bit sad for me knowing it may be the last time I grace the stage there, but still a great night for us. Caught up with a few old friends in the pub afterwards too so happy days.

double post, sorry.

Absolutely this. Two lots of families and friends have gathered to celebrate a wedding, and the band is there to help them do that, not the main attraction! Plenty of pub bands think it’s just a case of rocking up and doing their usual thing, but successful wedding bands understand the challenges and react accordingly. Keeping as many of the guests happy with the music is a priority, whatever it takes - not just the selection of tunes but also making sure it’s the right volume, is well presented, on time ( even when their schedule has gone down the pan!) and will be the band that others want to book for their wedding too. We used to get many enquiries from people who were guests and were looking for a band for their own celebration.

It certainly was, and Gerry Marsden was one of the main culprits …….

Nice studio stuff with Bob Babbitt now on Sky Arts, playing with Phil Collins in a Motown tribute thing.

I discovered this on NYE! Mistakenly took a strap on the gig that didn’t have two different holes for the end strap pin - usually have the higher of the two for sitting down and then move to the lower one for standing. I had to compromise between the two on this strap and to my amazement it actually worked well for both playing positions. Looks like Billy was right…..

That is fantastic - anyone gigging at 75 needs respect but particular drummers IMO. The physicality of playing drums is even more demanding with age, so good on him!

I had exactly the same problem with my Hohner B2A. I ended up selling it due to this, which was a shame as otherwise I really liked it. I only later found out that there were brackets available ( which were originally designed for Stenbergers I believe) that when fitted moved the strap button making the bass bass hang in a better position on the strap. Read about them on here too, called them ‘Strap hooks’.

Probably the main reason I detest musical theatre, although there are plenty more….

Yes he does and yes he's a lovely bloke. I’ll miss him when I leave.

Great post. I’m sure a lot of singers feel that swapping styles/genres is a doddle, but from my experience of working with a lot of them, it really isn’t! One of my pet peeves is when classical/opera singers try to do pop/rock stuff, and just don’t get it at all ( Michael Ball, Alfie Boe etc ). Likewise pop / rock singers trying to do swing/jazz (Rod Stewart and everyone else).

I thought so too, the bass player and the drummer were spot on. The Sugababes vocals were also excellent, although I couldn’t help wondering if they were being ‘helped’ in places?

I’d have to disagree with you - I thought in his prime period ( early 70’s) there were few to touch RS as a vocalist. Loved The Faces, one of my favourite bands. Saw him in the 70’s and he was tremendous - okay, sometimes a bit pitchy but it kind of didn’t matter, such a distinctive and soulful tone to his voice. I hated the swing stuff he did, and not sure if his forthcoming collaboration with Jools will be much better TBH. I saw him again in summer 2023, and he was surprisingly good, if a bit cabaret at times.

AFAIK Rylan first appeared on TV as a contestant singing on X Factor.

This year’s programme was recorded in mid December. I’m watching it now on iPlayer and enjoying what I’ve seen so far.

Right back at you Dave, all the best for 2024.

Played a dinner dance with friends last night at a nice hotel in Scarborough. Usual type of stuff, so we started off with some jazzy standards only for a lady to come over and request ‘some Quo’. Quite surreal for me to be singing ‘Rockin all over the world’ at 8.30pm on NYE sitting down & dressed in a dinner suit, but the customer is always right! The 12 o clock thing was supposed to be done by the events manager using the BBC feed from London, but gremlins meant we had to do the countdown and Auld Langs Syne bit so we duly obliged. Out by 12.45, home by around 2am. Roads very quiet so an easy drive home. Bit knackered today so it’s going to be watching Hootenanny for me this afternoon. Happy New Year to all the people on here, all the best for 2024.

There’s an hour long ‘TOTP Review of the Year 2023’ currently on iPlayer, hosted by Clara Amfo.

We’ve always done it this way in our band. Start with a ‘front room session’ with just acoustic guitar or piano to accompany sorting the harmonies out. No hearing issues or places to hide! When we’ve decided on the arrangement we either record it or write it down so nobody can change their parts afterwards. We then organise two days of rehearsals - first with just the core band to make sure the vocals work in a larger setting, and then the next day with all of us to finalise things. After that, no excuses 🤣

I guess it’s inevitable that my acoustic duo gets many requests for S&G stuff. We do ‘The Boxer’, ‘Mrs Robinson’, ‘Homeward Bound’ and ‘59th Street Bridge song’. We’ve done BOTW a few times too. In my last band we did ‘You can call me Al’ (which I despised as I could never nail the bass solo!) and also my favourite Paul Simon tune ‘Late in the evening’ with the great brass figure. On our last duo gig someone asked us for ‘Baby Driver’ which we have down to sort, and I fancy doing ‘Keep the customer satisfied’ too, another great song.

I caught only a bit of it last night, but what I saw looked great. It’s currently on iPlayer so going to fully watch it over the weekend. Sometimes the BBC only show movies for a limited time on iPlayer so would recommend watching it soon if it’s of interest.