Blue No More

Gigs

BLUE NO MORE GIGS

Autumn Tour 2005

Saturday 8th October Post Office Sports and Social Club, Richfield Avenue, Reading

Saturday 22nd October Birthday party (private), Reading

Friday 2nd December The Pond House, Oxford Road, Reading

Friday 9th December The Westwood Club, Tilehurst, Reading

If you would like to book Blue No More for your venue or event, please go to contacts page.

Previous Gigs

BLUE NO MORE Vol. IV – The Attack of the Moans

At the beginning of October 05 the band re-convened, following a highly successful European tour which took in Portugal, Turkey and the Greek Islands of Rhodes and Crete. Admittedly the various venues were visited separately, by different members of the group, but they were thinking of Blue No More all the time. The exposure to different music and culture was treated more as a fact finding mission than a holiday. OK, strictly speaking it was their holidays, but it all adds to the experience and knowledge that each artist is able to offer in their performance. They also got new T-shirts.

Barely off the plane in some cases, a gig awaited the members of the band on Saturday 8^th October, this time at a new venue - the Post Office Sports and Social Club Club in Ritchfield Avenue, Reading. The sound system was once more provided by those sterling partners in rhythm, Steve and Darren, from Berkshire’s premier function band 'Vision'. The quest for sonic perfection selflessly pursued by the boys meant that, yet again, Blue No More were the trusted beta testers of a state of the art, PA solution. A Turbosound system comprising two speakers, of the size a discerning music lover might have in his front room, plus an amplifier slightly smaller and less heavy than a phone book delivered crystal clear sound at a perfectly healthy volume. The amp in fact weighed less than the bass player’s foot pedal device. Just to further demonstrate the downsizing of gear that is now possible, interval music was supplied by a Rio mp3 player smaller than a packet of Marlboro Lights. Blue No More pondered on the possibility of a DJ, costing hundreds of pounds, turning up with such a device, containing thousands of tunes, and saying “OK man, where do I plug in?” Would one feel short changed?

The set order for this gig had been radically altered and so we kicked off with ‘Silver Machine’ to achieve maximum impact. The introductory ‘space ambience’ soundscape fashioned by Shephard certainly caught the audience’s attention. Ribald comments followed, almost instantly, until the band roared into life and left the punters gasping in admiration. Well, they were gasping at something.

Dancing was not widespread during the set. In fact, it was largely confined to one chap strutting his stuff to the rockier numbers, occasionally augmented by his young son. Never mind, Chic started out playing in bars and had to use a different drummer for evening gigs because their usual guy was too young to work in licensed premises. That guy was Omar Hakim of Weather Report and Sting’s first band. I expect nobody danced then either.

The evening also brought the band's first real heckler. At first he had approached the stage and expressed admiration for Jo’s voice. Next he approached the stage and expressed admiration for Jo’s voice suggesting it was best suited to some nice songs by the Beautiful South and did the band know any? By the end of the last set, clearly the worse for drink, he opined that the band were rubbish. “Why don’t you play any songs people know?” he enquired pitifully. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Eric Clapton etc would be miffed that nobody knew their tunes. Someone in the audience suggested he had another drink.

A fortnight later Blue No More were back. On this occasion though, the larger function room next door at the club was the venue and the occasion was a lavish 50^th birthday party for Ron X (surname withheld to protect the guilty). The first impression was ‘oh, it’s quite a big room’ and the second impression was ‘how come the disco gets the stage and has more kit than us?’ For it was true. Stacked and hanging across the entire front of the stage, were enough lights to keep Jean-Michel Jarre happy, a meaty looking PA system, CD decks and not one, but two, laptop computers. Across the back of the stage were several table full of CD’s. One computer held about 20,000 mp3’s whilst the other sent lighting patterns to the sound-to-light gear. It was a long way from the party scene in Early Doors – Series 2. (Fantastic BBC sitcom by Craig Cash, get it now on DVD).

Due to the nature of the evening, Blue No More played a much shortened set, showcasing the more danceable numbers. How the Kill Bill, novelty, rockabilly tune, 'Woo Hoo' got in there is anybody’s guess! First impressions suggested that it didn’t get much of a response. Bootleg recordings of the gig, however, demonstrate that the song actually got a big enthusiastic cheer from the audience (unless of course they were just relieved it was over!). CCTV footage is currently being analysed. 'Long Train Running', on the other hand, nearly filled the floor. It’s so difficult to judge the mood. Blue No More played for an hour and then the serious boogieing began. Several members of the band, along with long suffering partners, were witnessed getting down with their bad selves despite age, ailment and a lack of co-ordination. Check out Frank Zappa’s ‘Dancing Fool’ for further information.

Courtesy of the DJ’s, most musical genres flew by in the next couple of hours including soul, disco, reggae, 2 Tone, 2 Step, hip-hop, but strangely, no ‘dance’ music. Speeches were made, thanks given, cake presented, but the organising committee had one more trick up their sleeves. That sleeve was made from PVC and belonged to a strapping young lass, Kathy, who came dressed up as a policewoman and proceeded to remove her ‘disguise’ whilst singing popular rock anthems. Not only did Kathy possess a fine voice, but was no slouch with a can of whipped cream. And all in the best possible taste, of course. There was even talk of asking her to audition for the band. Birthday boy Ron, acted like a gentleman and kept his poise throughout. It was a night he won’t forget in a hurry.

“It’s all part of life’s rich tapestry.” they say. Who knows what awaits us at our next gig.?

WOODLEY GIG

The venue was purpose built. Not for music but some other purpose, and thus proved acoustically challenging. The first task was to find some power sockets. By the time several chaps had strung a trailing lead from one place to another, we had already overcome the problem. Setting up took longer than usual, despite being a man short (Bill Kelleher had been called off the subs bench and was needed in Paris to support the Welsh rugby team). 8.30 was but a fond memory when Blue No More finally roared into life but we were quickly reigned in when the clingfilm was lifted from the buffet. Having been advised that people didn’t appreciate bands playing whilst punters rammed pieces of quiche down their necks, we were stuck with standing about doing nothing. Except when being badgered by a self-styled ’Village Idiot’, who was going to do a few numbers at half time. So many times did he ask or say something, there was a danger of his mandolin being placed where the sun don’t shine. Perhaps he was just nervous, but it was only later that we discovered he had a lot to be nervous about.

Chow time lasted so long that Blue No More were only able to do three more numbers before the next break. One of the numbers was to feature another audience member, who fancied his chances on harmonica. After an initially encouraging squall of noise, he suddenly wandered off at the start of what should have been his solo, muttering oaths to the bewilderment of the band. During the next break (No. 2) he bent lead guitarist John’s ear, telling him how unsuitable the number had been, so the band agreed to include 'Hoochie Coochie Man' in the set and it was mentioned that 'Long Train Running' also provide a solo spot for the instrument.

Also during Break No. 2 the band stood about waiting for our guest artist to set up for his numbers. It was around this time that drummer Rick announced that he couldn’t do ‘Wipe Out’ due to lack of continuity. He hadn’t worked up enough steam basically – none of us had as a result of all the stopping and starting. “But Rick” said Dave, “I’ve got the surf noise and everything!” It was not to be.

Meanwhile back in the idiot village, the Village Idiot was still getting his plethora of acoustic noise makers ready for his set. He had been advised earlier that Blue No More had already banned acoustic guitars but, it didn’t put him off. Eventually, following a costume change, he signalled he was ready and was announced on, to rousing applause from the audience. That applause was the last heard for a while, as the awfulness unfolded. With hindsight you could say that in musical terms ‘Folk’ begins with an F and ends with a K. After ten minutes, applause from Shephard’s Super Sound Shack was insinuated into the mix, in an effort to encourage audience and performer. It didn’t make much difference, so, pausing only long enough to give another twelve verses, he slunk off. Fair play to him though, he soon bounced back and was seen blagging a dance with the partners of the band’s lead and bass guitarists.

Hot on the heals of an acoustic storm, the band kicked off the second half, as planned, with their ‘sonic attack’ version of 'Silver Machine'. They were like caged beasts suddenly set free. People started dancing again. Was the band about to drag victory from the jaws of defeat? The euphoria only lasted a few numbers. The enigmatic harmonica player once more presented himself to the microphone. Not a lot happened on 'Hoochie Coochie Man' and once again the guy wandered off - before 'Long Train Running' started. I think we can safely say - he failed the audition. As if to rub salt in the wound, during the Muddy Waters tune, John's searing lead guitar suddenly disappeared and the axe-man was seen prodding his Fender with a stick, to see if life was still there. A nearly broken string turned out to be the problem but, it was a bit late to sort it out. Thus, an imaginative ‘guitar swap’ scheme was activated, as John and Martin swapped vocal and six string duties between them. It’s either feast or famine with those planks.

Break No. 3 came when the raffle tickets were drawn then, interrupted by a couple more numbers from the band, the party continued when birthday cake was presented and cut and thank you speeches made (Break No 4). Said cake was even presented to the band as a tribute but coming as it did in the middle of a number didn’t allow us to appreciate it as we might have done. Martin nearly trod in his.

All in all, a rather strange evening that left the band wondering if they had been part of an Electric Kool Aid Acid Test. They put it down to experience.