What another great night!
My friend Dave and I met the lovely Nelly at Twickenham station about 2 hrs before the gig. We then met my son Stuart and went off to a local Indian restaurant for a meal. After that to the pub where the gig was being held. Time for a game of pool, Arthur and Dave v Nelly and Stuart. Victory for the older generation, Arthur comfortably potting a long black to seal victory!
Upstairs for the gig, held in a rather tatty and run down bar room. Tiny stage. A few bar stools to sit on but mainly standing. I guess around 125 -150 max in the audience. After some beer with the curry a quick pee needed before gig start so went off to the Gents only to find it was also the band dressing room (!), and Guy and William Topley were smartening themselves up/changing shirts before going on stage. A little chat with Guy who kind of said that these little gigs were gifts for the fans and he promised I could take some photos of him with Nelly at the end of the night.
Band was Guy and Danny - let's start with the boys we know and love - Gary Grainger on lead guitar, Alan Rogan on bass, Peter Hope-Evans on harmonica and Jew's Harp, and William Topley on vocals. The set list was pretty much the one I listed from the Inglenook I think.
As I think you can picture, we were set up for a brilliant night, and so it proved to be.
Mr Topley is a man of operatic proportions - and I mean that kindly, and he has a voice to match. Deep, rich and brilliant for blues. Again the star for me was the harmonica fella - ex Medicine Head - who was fantastic. GG is a top man on the guitar and this time around there was a bit more showmanship from him, when compared to the Inglenook show. Danny and Guy were as you can imagine. A bit of lap steel guitar from Guy at one point. The band played nonstop fantastic blues for nearly two hours and left the stage to great applause. They then mingled with the audience and Nelly got her picture with Guy! A quick sprint back to the train station to catch the last train home, and back in rainy old Eastbourne at 0140 a tired and happy chappy.
I have a gazillion photos of the night, and though I say so myself, many are excellent. I had a girl from our Medical Photography Dept help me set up my camera just right - didn't want a repeat of my last attempts as a photographer! Hope to get them uploaded in next day or so.
Those of you who can travel to the Inglenook next month should make the effort to do so. It's not often you get to see and hear musicians of this quality up close and personal - and then get the chance to meet and chat to them.
