1. Higher Plane at Bletchley Bandstand Sat 19th July
A sunny afternoon in Bletchley for the second of three bookings this year at the Bandstand on Elizabeth Square. We had three hours to fill but as people come and go, a certain amount of repetition matters little, plus these events serve as great live warm up sessions. This part of the town can be a little lacking in Saturday shopping, but this afternoon there was a great turn out both from people we knew and others who just stopped to listen. We received a number of favourable comments from passers by, including a professional performer and promoter who got talking to my wife and aid she was most impressed by our sets. Two newly added songs were given their first public airing: Georgy Girl (The Seekers) – with Janet on lead and me on harmony and Songbird (Fleetwood Mac) – with me on lead and Janet on harmony and flute solo. Total of 27 different songs were played with a few repeated ones. Some pictures were taken by Esther and a classic by Catherine of a bird flying up in front of us. See bottom of post.
2. Mike Squire at Stepping Stone Live, Bedford Park, Sun 27th July
This was supposed to be a Hgher Plane booking but Janet was not available. The Stepping Stone cafe is operated at weekends by Brickhill Baptist Church In the Summer they put on live music in the Bandstand, a couple of hundred yards away, providing sound system and engineer. I was on after superb jazz singer Jess Eaton who used backing tracks. Playing as a soloist in this situation was not my ideal but I made the most of it by operating without a set list and just seeing what went down well. If they appeared to get bored with my ballads, I put a crowd pleaser cover in like Brown Eyed Girl and Urban Spaceman. The kazoo songs went down real well and some people started dancing during Jambalya. I had wanted to use the occasion to showcase some of my more obviously Christian songs and this was partly achieved, though I pulled Fill Us with youy Love, a song which sounds better with Janet’s keyboard part in any case. Light to my Path went down well as did I am a Pilgrim. Rarely performed gospel songs were Teach Me To Wait (featuring gate pan effect on my flanger pedal) and Work A Miracle. I played for about fifty minutes.
3. Higher Plane at Kilkenny House, Thur 31st July
This was an early one hour perfromance at a sheltered housing complex. Janet had arranged the set order and she took a major role in anouncements on this occasion. It all worked very well with just the right sound balance and levels despite a very quick set up time. I included Leaning on a Lampost (George Formby). The event was very much appreciated by the residents.
Higher Bird
Tags: Bandstand, Bletchley, Flute, Folk music, Gig Reports, Guitar and Flute, Higher Plane
