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FaBclub review 3rd January 2010 written by Clive Meggs Well, Christmas is over for another year and we are just into 2010, so some cobwebs are about to be blown away. Our guests are arriving, but I can't honestly say they are larger than pre-Christmas with all the food they must have eaten. Some have brought some surplus eats along to share so we appear to be set up for a good afternoon. Margaret has volunteered to be our compere for the afternoon as she needs to get up and down regularly because of her back, that's what she says, anyway. She starts with a request from me, but she sings anyway. A couple of Formby songs Leaning on a Lamp-post and Cleaning Windows are first after a really corny cracker joke. Then after another equally corney joke she follows with Hey Good Looking - obviously not influenced by me. Bernard and Maureen are next. They are sitting a little apart but I am assured everything is OK on the domestic front. They start with two Australian tunes, but I am assured the music was not upside down, and follow with a couple from the northern hemisphere to balance things up. Toe-tapping fantastic chaps! Paul is next in bronze medal position and starts with You Go Your Way, I'll Go Mine, played in fingerless grey gloves (but on a guitar). The gloves disappear seamlessly during the song as if by magic, a bit like the song itself really. He follows this with one of my favourite Bob Dylan songs - Simple Twist of Fate. The next artist, Richard, is not quite a fabclub virgin - he came about a year ago- starts with a bluesy song called Nobody Loves You Like The Way I Do, with lots of intricate guitar playing. Great Stuff!!! He continues into a tune he learned yesterday around a friends entitled Track 11, which gives a great deal away. The gathering found this quite funny, but I didn't get it straight away - Doh! A class bit of guitar playing - thank you Richard. Mike is next to bring us back to normal - as he puts it. He starts with Wild Rover and continues with Whiskey in the Jar, both good joiny in songs which the audience appreciate. John and Margaret (Foxen) are next and start by giving us a great wedding story. This leads into a traditional song called The Blacksmith. A much slower version than I have heard before. Margaret's voice certainly does this justice. Something completely different next - a highly humerous song based on the well known Oh No John, but with a twist. Len is Barbaraless this afternoon. He starts with a Neil Young song - Heart of Gold - and he certainly does not let us down. Staying with the same artist he follows with Alabama - nothing to do with the American President he assures us. TDL are next with a song they wrote last year called The Urban Fox, a tale we townies are all too familiar with. Very cleverly written Trevor. Their next song is about the twelve days of Christmas but not as you know it. Each day a different Indian Dish is sent to them by their true love. Your knowledge of Indian food is far better than mine Trevor, I must make a point of having more takeaways I think. We take a break for the sale of raffle tickets, purchase of pints, leaking of liquids etc. and resume, suitably refreshed to Mike who sings a Wassailing Song accompanied by his squeezebox. He continues with another well known song - The River is Wide. Margaret is next with From a Jack to a King and Grandad's Flanelette Nightshirt, followed by the raffle. Bernard and Maureen are next with a couple of fine tunes - The Big Ship and Speed The Plough followed by The Burnt Potato and Lord of the Dance. Paul returns to the front without his gloves this time even though it does not appear to have warmed up a great deal. He starts with I Ain't Got No Home in this World Anymore and continues with a great version of How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live. Foxen are next with a Catalan Carol last outed at the Leigh Carol Concert before Christmas, but unfortunately not broadcast on Radio 2 along with other items sung on the day. Their loss is our gain I say. It is called El Noi De La Mare. They continue with a Ralph McTell song Taken The Last Train and Gone. Len is next with a Cat Stevens song Lisa Liseur. He follows with a Beatles song - Hey, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away. Tone Deaf Leopard finish off the afternoon with a couple of songs. The first - Time To Check The Freezer- is rather poignant as Trevor's freezer broke down over Christmas. They finish with a folk song called Blank Verse, written when a group of folkies got together and couldn't remember the words or verses or tunes to one complete folk song, so they wrote one. We are back again on Sunday 17th January 2010, this time in the pub, where our guests will be Steve O'Kane and Fiona McBain, supported (not literally) by our very own Joe Migdal. I hope to see you there. |