A Gold Medal of a Gig!

Well, I thought I had to tell you about our weekend of gigs. I know there's some other little event going on in London and elsewhere but somehow it hasn't quite reached Walkford (although I did watch the archery this morning before going down to Mudeford Arts Festival!) So, firstly, the Quicksilver Mail on Friday - hmmm, it WAS the Olympic Opening Ceremony so big thanks to our audience - the only other 10 people in the country NOT glued to the telly watching it! Even so, we still managed to have a good time and it was lovely to see Chris and Sarah (they're a party by themselves!) and a lovely couple who first saw us playing in the rain in Ilchester on Jubilee weekend! Just shows a gig is never wasted. Then the next day, Sat 28th, Alan and I were due to play our song Mudeford Mood for the opening ceremony of Mudeford Arts Festival. However, the Puppet Show cancelled so we filled in - no strings attached! and ended up doing two very impromptu acoustic sets which we really loved and took the opportunity to try out a brand new song (I'm Gorgeous - Gok Wan Told Me So - honestly that is its title!). Went down well too! It was a really lovely festival - very colourful and quirky rather like Mudeford and the sun shone the whole weekend. Then, just time for a quick cuppa, before leaping in the car to go to one of our favourite venues - the wondrous Barge Inn, Honeystreet near Pewsey. Now this is our sort of venue: beautiful setting, wonderfully eccentric, friendly, warm, great atmosphere and serves a great pint! If you've not been, hitch your caravan or pack your tent or hire a barge and moor up alongside and spend the weekend - it is just a little bit special. As soon as we got there, we sensed we were in for a fabulous night. We were greeted like friends - lots of comments like ' Oh no it's you lot that means I'll never make it to work tomorrow!' and hugs and kisses all round from loads of people who'd pitched up to see us and also loads of people who were there camping for the weekend and didn't know us at all. Well, from the first note of our first song, they were with us. They danced, they sang, they listened intently to our mellow songs, and threw themselves around wildly to our lively stuff (of which there is plenty!). When we sang Mudeford Mood we told them about the proposed development plans (met with huge boos) then we invited them to join our protest should the plans be passed (huge cheers - some left to go and make banners). We had people standing on chairs and tables to see us, hanging through windows, it was just how an amazing gig should be. And the guys were on FIRE! Fantastic playing and really upping it for the crowd. You can last a lifetime on a gig like that! Returned home about 2.30 in the morning - poor Keith still had another 40 minutes drive home from us but he was on a high so probably flew home - had a celebratory glass of wine and finished up the remnants of the boys' pasta; then up bright-eyed and bushy tailed (I jest) - dragged ourselves out of bed to crawl down to Mudeford Quay for the second day of the Arts Festival because our son's band - Mothership - a full on rock band - were doing a 30 minute very rare acoustic set. And they were just as good stripped down and acoustic with their songs laid bare as they are when they're giving it the full and mighty power performance. Shows the strength of their songs that they still work in this format and also shows their versatility as a band. Check out their fb page . There was a slight gap in the proceedings. Tony doing the sound asked Alan and me if we'd like to do a few songs to fill in. As we collapsed in a crumpled heap at the thought, I think he got his answer! A very good weekend. Come on Team GB! Love to all Charlie xxxx