GIGS
Friday 27th January 2012
The Jolly Anglers, Reading RG1 3EA
"CELEBRATE CHINESE NEW YEAR"
Well I needn't have had those sleepless nights worrying if everyone was going to fit into the Jolly Anglers on Friday night. It was surprisingly and disappointingly quiet. Perhaps really it shouldn't have been a surprise. These are austere times after all and those in work might still be waiting to be paid in January after the Christmas period. Still a bit disappointing though. But to be fair, perhaps not the easiest pub to get to unless you're a local.
So the audience largely consisted of a dozen or so (whom I assume to be) local drinkers congregated around the bar, celebrating and winding down at the end of the working week. They reminded me a little of the "Crackerjack Crowd", when we'd all congregate (for we did it religiously!) in The Global Cafe at 5:00pm on a Friday. I think the only difference then was that we didn't have some guy in the background warbling on about lust, loss and following your bliss.
No matter, in spite of the circumstances I enjoyed Luke Paulo's set that started the night off. My set also seemed to go well, even the "unplanned experiments". Towards the end things did seem to warm up, even got the landlord apparently singing all the words to American Pie.
Thanks to Tony Brown for doing the sound and big thanks to his wife Jackie for being such a willing fun participant in the banter. If any of the drinkers are reading this, then thanks too for your generous compliments. And big BIG thanks to those from my gang that turned up, as always it's much appreciated.
My Set:
I Still Miss Someone (Johnny Cash)
Hallelujah (including orig verse) (Leonard Cohen)
Tears of a Clown (Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Hank Cosby)
Last Night I Saw You Standing There
American Pie (Don McLean)
One More Time / All Day And All Of The Night (Ray Davies)
To The Bone (Ray Davies)
I'm Alive (Jackson Browne)
