Crivvens! Is it really knocking on for a year since we played here last? Evidently so. That time we were still finding our feet as a working four piece, whereas now we’re in pretty fine fettle – even allowing for the fact that it is open mic night on Monday.
Open mics work like this. You and a bunch of other musicians turn up with your instruments and such and a kind of impromptu line-up somehow springs from the chaos. So you get one singer-songwriter with his acoustic guitar and nose flute… a band made up of The Three Guys Who Brought A Guitar and the house drummer and an eclectic mix of singers and musicians just basically doing Whatever – either together or solo.
In that sort of context, us swanning up as a full band with a pre-planned set and everything kind of goes a little bit against the ethos of these evenings but speaking personally almost nothing fills me with greater dread than the prospect of having my lack of guitar chops shown up during some kind of jam with Far Better musicians.
Anyway, we did a truncated half dozen songs and were greeted really well. One thing about an audience that is comprised of either other musicians or general music lovers is that you are always warmly supported, regardless of what level you play at or idiom you play in.
A measure of that kind of thing could be seen when Den contrived to snap his D string (which is physically impossible for anyone except for, perhaps, a lobster). Everyone just shrugged and said “play whatever instrument you find on stage.”
A big thanks to all the musicians for making the night so interesting and diverse, Slater (for leaving his house) and the venue itself for supporting live music in such a cool fashion. Hopefully, we’ll be back for a full, Friday night set with all the attendant gee-gaws and baubles soon.
Oh – and a special mention to the random threesome of Americans who found themselves sat uncomfortably close to the speakers, but who were warm and friendly in a way that only Americans ever are – hope you had a safe journey home (in the frankly unlikely situation that you are reading this!) 
SETLIST
- All Your Love – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers
- Got Everything I want
- Mississippi Fishcake Blues
- Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes
- You Got It In You
- In The End
I can confirm that Superset were rather smashing as I saw the last 4 songs.
The last song (their own) was their best by miles, better than the White Stripes!
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