On a High at Highcliffe!
What a day we had on Sunday! When the heavens opened on the Friday before the outdoor gig, we couldn’t believe it. We wondered what we’d done to upset the Powers? But all that crossing of fingers, toes, legs and eyes definitely paid off. The weather could not have been more glorious! Sunday was a busy day for us what with Follow Me Down at lunchtime and then the concert in the evening. But boy was it worth it. Let me start at the beginning. Keith, Alan and Rob arrived at The Castle about 10.00am; I swanned in about half an hour later. The important thing was setting up the stage and positioning it just right. Smack bang on top of the steps. A natural, central, theatrical position with amazing views across the garden, over the sea to the Island beyond. I tell you, people, there’s nothing like it in the world to stand there and sing your own songs to a warm and responsive audience in that setting; a gentle, warm summer’s evening, a slight breeze off the water; it doesn’t get any better than that. But I’m ahead of myself. Because before the concert we took part in Dorset Local Authority’s Sting in the Tale Festival of Storytelling. Our lovely, and far-too-talented friend Julie Hearn, joined us at The Castle to read from her powerful, exciting novel Follow Me Down whilst we sung songs linked to or inspired by the story. It’s only the second time we’ve tried this and we were still wondering if the concept worked. But after Sunday, we have no doubts. It needs a little polish here and there but it really is a unique experience. Julie reads from her books so well and brings her characters so vividly to life that the listener is immediately entranced. Linking in the songs just adds something a little extra. So if there are any schools, bookshops or libraries out there who fancy putting on a really innovative storytelling session that could appeal to reluctant readers as well as able readers, get in touch now! We’d love to hear from you. (http://www.stateofundress.com/ 0797 1472768)
So on to the late afternoon. We were thrilled to see people starting to arrive and settle down with picnics and bottles of wine from about 4.00pm. I have to mention our great friend and mentor Peter Foster (Foz) at this point. It was his fiance’s, Terry’s, birthday and they decided to use our outdoor concert as the place to celebrate it! Never mind your blankets and flasks, Foz and co brought a huge table laid it out with candles, flowers, napkins, the whole luxury business. That’s the way to do it! Anyway, it was fantastic to see the grounds starting to fill and that in the audience were whole family groups from kids, to parents, to grandparents and in a couple of cases, great grandparents. And I tell you, by the end of the evening, whatever their age, they were dancing! We kicked off just after 5.00pm with a lovely set by local talent Chris Tempest looking the height of sartorial elegance in the brightest coloured trousers you’ve ever seen. Disco Diva, his own song about his encounter with a rather forward lady of Amazonian proportions, went down a storm and definitely had people laughing. He’s a performer to keep tabs on because I’m sure he’s going places.
Next up was the great Pete Christie one of those amazing musicians who can make one guitar sound like a complete orchestra. He and his bass player, Pete Walbridge, did an excellent 40 minutes which if there’d been a roof over the garden, would have lifted it off!
Last up was State of Undress. What can I say? We had a brilliant time playing. It was wonderful to see so many people there. We reckoned half the audience was known to us, the other half was new. It was great seeing people laughing, singing, clapping and jigging along with us. Our sound engineer, Rob Austin, did the most superb job in making us sound half decent. The natural acoustics of The Castle are just so good with the sound reflecting off the castle walls. A couple of highlights of the evening for me was joining the audience to watch and listen to the rest of the band play the debut live performance of Arthur’s Garden a lovely instrumental piece written by Steve (the final track on our new album); and doing a special performance of Frightened of the Dark one of the first songs we ever wrote and which is co-written with Foz. We did this beautiful love-song as a dedication to Foz and Terry who are getting married next month. Foz joined us on stage, his gravelly, husky voice joining in the refrain ‘I’m not frightened of the dark’. It was a really magical moment. A great way to send everyone home safely to their beds.
We’d like to thank Keely Gallagher and all the Team at The Castle for doing such a great job and giving us so much support; big thanks to our local media: The Bournemouth Echo; The Southern Evening Echo; The New Forest Post; The New Milton Advertiser and Times, and The Christchurch Advertiser; BBC Radio Solent, Wave 105; and 2CR for giving us such excellent pre-publicity. And finally big thanks to all those who came with their picnics and their glasses of wine to sit under the last rays of the sun to hear us play. We hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did.
Love to all
Charlie x
Ps A special word about the apres-gig. We had loads of people back to celebrate and the gang - my sister, Trish, Dee, David, Nige and Mandy, Big Al and Julie had each made a curry or curry side dish. We had a brilliant time - it was lovely to come home to such a welcome. Thanks everyone!
So on to the late afternoon. We were thrilled to see people starting to arrive and settle down with picnics and bottles of wine from about 4.00pm. I have to mention our great friend and mentor Peter Foster (Foz) at this point. It was his fiance’s, Terry’s, birthday and they decided to use our outdoor concert as the place to celebrate it! Never mind your blankets and flasks, Foz and co brought a huge table laid it out with candles, flowers, napkins, the whole luxury business. That’s the way to do it! Anyway, it was fantastic to see the grounds starting to fill and that in the audience were whole family groups from kids, to parents, to grandparents and in a couple of cases, great grandparents. And I tell you, by the end of the evening, whatever their age, they were dancing! We kicked off just after 5.00pm with a lovely set by local talent Chris Tempest looking the height of sartorial elegance in the brightest coloured trousers you’ve ever seen. Disco Diva, his own song about his encounter with a rather forward lady of Amazonian proportions, went down a storm and definitely had people laughing. He’s a performer to keep tabs on because I’m sure he’s going places.
Next up was the great Pete Christie one of those amazing musicians who can make one guitar sound like a complete orchestra. He and his bass player, Pete Walbridge, did an excellent 40 minutes which if there’d been a roof over the garden, would have lifted it off!
Last up was State of Undress. What can I say? We had a brilliant time playing. It was wonderful to see so many people there. We reckoned half the audience was known to us, the other half was new. It was great seeing people laughing, singing, clapping and jigging along with us. Our sound engineer, Rob Austin, did the most superb job in making us sound half decent. The natural acoustics of The Castle are just so good with the sound reflecting off the castle walls. A couple of highlights of the evening for me was joining the audience to watch and listen to the rest of the band play the debut live performance of Arthur’s Garden a lovely instrumental piece written by Steve (the final track on our new album); and doing a special performance of Frightened of the Dark one of the first songs we ever wrote and which is co-written with Foz. We did this beautiful love-song as a dedication to Foz and Terry who are getting married next month. Foz joined us on stage, his gravelly, husky voice joining in the refrain ‘I’m not frightened of the dark’. It was a really magical moment. A great way to send everyone home safely to their beds.
We’d like to thank Keely Gallagher and all the Team at The Castle for doing such a great job and giving us so much support; big thanks to our local media: The Bournemouth Echo; The Southern Evening Echo; The New Forest Post; The New Milton Advertiser and Times, and The Christchurch Advertiser; BBC Radio Solent, Wave 105; and 2CR for giving us such excellent pre-publicity. And finally big thanks to all those who came with their picnics and their glasses of wine to sit under the last rays of the sun to hear us play. We hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did.
Love to all
Charlie x
Ps A special word about the apres-gig. We had loads of people back to celebrate and the gang - my sister, Trish, Dee, David, Nige and Mandy, Big Al and Julie had each made a curry or curry side dish. We had a brilliant time - it was lovely to come home to such a welcome. Thanks everyone!
