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| Not a bad line-up eh? |
My first gig of the year as an audience member was at Tropic At Ruislip last Friday when I witnessed a performance by original Wishbone Ash bass player Martin Turner. Apparently legal restrictions mean that he's not allowed to call it something like 'Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash' - hence the rather unwieldy 'Martin Turner and friends play the music of Wishbone Ash... and beyond' on the poster. Strange days indeed. I don't mind saying that musically it's not really my sort of thing, but I went along as I have good memories of my older cousins in Birkenhead playing their 'Argus' album (among many others) when we used to visit them during school holidays in the 1970s. I also think that it's good to support live music in our area on a night when I'm not out playing myself although that probably sounds a bit self-righteous? Oh well - maybe it is! Anyway they were very good indeed, with probably the best sound that I've ever heard in the venue. I may not be rushing out to buy their entire back catalogue, but it was definitely a good show to start my gig - going year with.
And Sunday afternoon's Upper Cut show at Ye Olde George in Colnbrook was definitely a good start to my gig-playing year - it's always a bit weird starting at 5pm but there were quite a few people in and there was dancing more-or-less from the word go; our two sets flew by and we were still playing well past our allotted end time of 8 o'clock. Great stuff all round.
This week all roads lead to The 100 Club, where Ruts D.C. are among various luminaries playing at The Resolution Festival. After the splendid 'The Clash - New Year's Day '77' show on BBC4 last week I for one am definitely in the mood for some punk rock, and it doesn't get much better than this does it? See you down the front!
