gigs |
| Spectrum has a day out at the Way Out West Roots & Blues Club in Newport in aid of Madder Lake's 50th Anniversary show - Sun. 23.2.20 |
 Mike and Broc dodge the same bullet at Newport (MG) |
| The first of Madder Lake's
50th Anniversary shows for the year goes pretty damn well.. 24.2.21 - The rehearsal last week went spookily well - maybe too well. My ongoing quest for a useful on-stage guitar sound remained tantalisingly unresolved, but I left the rehearsal with a plan and, perhaps more importantly, my voice intact. It was coasting past thirty degrees on Sunday arvo when we arrived at the Newport Bowls Club, the home of the Way Out West Roots & Blues Club since the demise of the Willy RSL a few years back, so it was already warm when we walked into the club's function room, so reminiscent of the RSL room it's not even faintly amusing. The set-up was way behind schedule but I just managed to be ready at the appointed time, although there was so little room for Broc and me that I managed to knock my Kelly guitar completely out of tune, which of course had repercussions later on in the set when we came to Jamaican Farewell. Anyhow, we were sort of ready when Rob Rowe clambered on stage to give us an affectionate intro and we were away with Launching Place Part ll. Admittedly I was wearing my earplugs but my guitar was actually sounding seviceable, if a little thin. I continued to adjust it throughout the set and finally got a satisfactory sound for Bill's song, It's a Lottery, the last song that I played guitar in. I suspected that we were going to be short by at least one song, but I compounded the problem by inadvertently dodging Make Your Stash at the start of the set. In the event I got totally lost in the-bit-you-don't-want-to- get-lost-in and managed to make a complete hash of Stash. I rather lamely seguéd into the designated reserve song, But That's Alright, and thankfully this time the band was in the groove - in fact, Peter Carolan told me later it 'really rocked'. Maria and I stayed and watched the Madders' set until I was called up on stage to add harp to their blazing song, Badlands, and then we quietly slipped out and joined the queue on the Westgate and headed home. All the personal introspection aside it was significant step forward for the augmented Spectrum combo and the crowd really appreciated it too. Overall I reckon it was a very nice start to the reverse Double Bill partnership for 2020. |
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