casapete

We played at The Regent Theatre in Stoke on Trent last night. Another big grand old place, and we drew around 1200 punters in - this was a rescheduled gig from earlier in the year when the band was suffering from bouts of Covid and flu. Audience were well up for it and the band played well, despite still being a cellist down. Bit of a long drive home, but in bed by 2am.

We played Halifax Victoria Theatre tonight. Nearly 1000 punters in this fantastic old place, all in good voice too. High domed ceiling made for an unusual sound, which meant using our new favourite gadget…..😆

Played with the acoustic duo at my local boozer last night - 100 yds from my front door! Usual thing we do of putting request forms on the tables and then see if we can blag our way through playing them. Had some unusual ones, including ‘Bat out of hell’ which is getting requested more just lately, and not by the same people! We did an abridged version, and the audience seemed to enjoy watching our attempt. Just had an email from the landlord asking for our availability for the rest of 2023, so may turn into a more regular thing. I took my little Ibanez short scale acoustic electric, and plugged into my Fender Rumble 100 rather than the PA which I do on some gigs. Love this combo, so good for these type of gigs, and I walked to the gig carrying it (to enable me to take advantage of a couple of free beers….).

It’s ‘The ELO Experience’. The band is in it’s 17th year now, and I’ve been with them for 12 years. 😊

We've just done 3 gigs last week after a month's layoff due to health problems with some of the band. We still were a cellist down (damned Covid again) but did the gigs as a 7 piece. Started off in High Wycombe, then down to Weymouth finishing with a nice ferry trip over to Shanklin on the Isle of Wight. The gigs went well, audience figures holding up too despite all the financial woes around at the moment. Good to be back doing it again.

I agree Bill. My tech guy said they would handle the 2 ohm load okay, but long term use would shorten it's life, IIRC as the amp would be running hotter or something? Whatever, a bit of an iconic amp IMHO.

Great amps, I’ve had a few over the years. My amp tech guy did say that they are happiest running at 4 ohms rather than 2 though, although I’m sure some people do this.

Recently sold Greg a gig big for his DB. Lovely bloke, easy pleasant transaction with great communications throughout. Recommended!

Totally agree - so much easier singing whilst playing guitar chords than bass lines.

I’ve sung (mainly backing) vocals in every band I’ve been in. I’ve found that it’s a massive advantage if you can do this - I’m a competent but not brilliant bassist, and the fact that I can harmonise has got me work over more accomplished players. I have a very ‘neutral’ singing voice with a reasonable range, so it fits for BV’s just fine but as a lead vocal it’s not that special - I do sing the odd song here and there but know it’s usually to give the proper singer a rest, and don’t particularly enjoy doing it. I do really enjoy singing harmony, especially when playing in my acoustic duo - my partner on guitar has a great lead voice, and his range is slightly lower than mine so it works well. I think having played other instruments helps when playing bass and doing BVs. I started off on piano when I was a kid, moving on to guitar/keys in my first few bands so had some experience of chords/harmony which proved invaluable when starting with playing bass and singing. I think it’s harder playing bass than guitar whilst singing, and sometimes struggle with parts that say require a root note on bass and a major 7th on vocals or similar. Tend to rehearse each part separately and then try to do them together for ages until it sinks in.

I saw 801 at Hull University in the late 70’s. TBH only went as I got free tickets from the record company, but enjoyed the gig and subsequent album despite not particularly being my kind of thing. Phil Manzanera is a great player, and love his iconic red Gibson Firebird V11. My brother was a big Roxy Music fan, and I remember hearing their first couple of albums blasting from his room. Wasn’t sure about the ‘smoother’ later albums, but enjoyed some of Bryan Ferry’s solo stuff, especially as it featured the great Chris Spedding on guitar.

I’ll have what Danny’s having….. Clapton nicked ‘Tulsa Time’ from Don Williams, who recorded his version around the same period. Danny was in Don’s band at the time, and Clapton was a big fan.

I like Stevie’s version more than the original. Good that we’re all different eh? Seeing as we’re talking covers of Beatles stuff, I can’t abide Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel’s mauling of George’s ‘ Here comes the sun’.

Even one missing rubber foot from a mic stand can create horrible resonances, especially on hollow stages.

Nice bass , Univox?

Our (very) occasional Country band are playing a gig soon. We used to have a weekly residency, then things slowly started getting less frequent until now when we maybe do one or two gigs a year! It's a lovely gig with friends I've know for years, and an audience who have followed us throughout. Probably be using my Dano Longhorn which is due an outing.

Paul Jackson is a bit of a local legend, and as you know Lozz the Adelphi has seen some great bands over nearly 40 years. Glad your memories of it are good ones.

Try Darren Bunting, owner of venue O’Rileys in Hull. Also in Hull you could contact Paul Jackson at The New Adelphi Club.