ACOUSTIC STRAWBS UK TOUR - JAN/FEB 2008
PART 1: JANUARY 2008

Part 2: February 2008

Updated: 30 Jan 2008

Contents

The Kite Club, Blackpool, Fri 11 Jan 2008

Singing Like Angels, Playing Like Demons - Comments from Sean Breadin

Down By The Sea - Comments and pix from Les Cotton

Photos from Alison Brown

Setlist

Acoustic Tearoom, Kirkby Stephen, Sat 12 Jan 2008

Setlist from Alison Brown

Photos from Alison Brown

The Rondo Theatre, Bath, Thu 17 Jan 2008

Two Surprises - Review by Phil Gregory

Fit For A King - Review by Nigel Bennett

Setlist

Cox's Yard, Stratford-upon-Avon, Fri 18 Jan 2008

Most Impressive Bit Of Guitar Playing I Have Ever Heard - Review and pictures by Pete Bradley

Pictures from Alan Perry

Setlist

The David Hall, South Petherton, Sat 19 Jan 2008

We'll Meet Again Sometime - Review by Nigel Bennett

Setlist

Ovington Social Club, Ovington, Thu 24 Jan 2008

Alison Brown's pictures

Setlist

The Famous Bein Inn, Glenfarg, Fri 25 Jan 2008

Alison Brown's pictures

Setlist

The Famous Bein Inn, Glenfarg, Sat 26 Jan 2008

Alison Brown's pictures

Setlist

Tudor Folk, White Hill Centre, Chesham, Mon 28 Jan 2008

First-Rate Show - Review and pictures by Dick Greener

Setlist

THE KITE CLUB, BLACKPOOL, FRI 11 JAN 2008

SINGING LIKE ANGELS, PLAYING LIKE DEMONS - Comments from Sean Breadin

A storming night at Blackpool, even though it was bitterly cold; I don't think the venue bothered to put the heating on at all and DC in particular looked to be feeling it. Didn't affect the performance at all - right from the off they were bang on; singing like angels, playing like demons. A personal highlight was 'Midnight Sun' which had me in tears - exquisite!

DOWN BY THE SEA - Comments (and pix - see below) from Les Cotton

The Kite Club is the name for Blackpool's main Rock Club...it seems to operate in two venues, this one is a small club in an upstairs room on Station Road. It's less than 100 yards from the sea, right opposite South Pier. As DC responded when someone asked for DBST, "we already ARE Down By The Sea!"

Anyway, in freezing cold conditions (DC had a big woolly jumper on) the lads put on a powerful performance to a small audience...Blackpool is not a hub of activity in January......great sound system, and DC on good storytelling form, and changing the "Jesus" lyric to "maybe Blackpool beach" :)

Photos from Les Cotton

Photos from Alison Brown

ACOUSTIC TEAROOM, KIRKBY STEPHEN, SAT 12 JAN 2008

Photos from Alison Brown

THE RONDO THEATRE, BATH, THU 17 JAN 2008

TWO SURPRISES - Review by Phil Gregory

What an excellent night in Bath, as Nigel notified us earlier, the show was sold out and even had some people standing at the side by the bar as the seats were all occupied.

The Rondo is a small but lovely venue with capacity of about 100. This resulted in an excellent atmosphere akin to the band playing in your front room. Quite a different set from the earlier shows with two major surprises.

The show opened with the familiar "Benedictus" and then the surprise straight into an excellent "Shepherd's Song", the first time I'd heard it live. Then came an excellent "Tears And Pavan" with an amusing story about Fred Wedlock in a club in Bath many years ago to introduce it. Then came an excellent "Hangman" with some superb pedal atmosphere provided by Chas. According to DC this was included at the request of one of the ladies behind the bar as it was the first song her husband ever sang to her (DC quite amused at his choice of romantic material I think)! The sound had really improved by now from a slightly shaky start and the set progressed as elsewhere with "Oh How She Changed", "Midnight Sun", "A Glimpse Of Heaven" and "Ghosts" to end the first set.

The second set started with the second surprise "To Be Free", DC getting mixed up with the lyrics at one point. Another first live performance for me of this song. The rest of the excellent set was the same as for Blackpool. The audience really appreciated such a fine performance and there were many there who had not seen the band before.

One odd thing about the sound, was that left and right were swapped over, so DL's vocals were coming from the opposite side of the stage to where he was sat, most unnerving!

Looking forward to the other two shows I'm attending.

FIT FOR A KING - Review by Nigel Bennett

The gilt edged invitation came………for a seat at the Rondo a lovely little theatre on the outskirts of Bath with "sold out" signs posted it was a tight squeeze at the bar. No guests were met by any Queens ( as far as I was aware) but all the acoustic Strawbs were gathered to meet and greet the audience as they gathered in their chairs.

The first show I have seen on this tour (not the last probably!). The set kicked off in usual style with "Benedictus", but then a real surprise where there should have been some simple visions it went straight in to "The Shepherd's Song" which had an ending flourish fit for a King.

The set list was re-arranged in the pub before hand – to fit in a request from one of the bar staff and DC told an early story at the expense of Fred Wedlock, who was in attendance (apparently he was raised in a pub - what better place?) and he got paid for his first public performance at the age of four the princely sum of a tanner, err sixpence or in present day stuff 2.5 pence. Wait I digress, back to the real entertainment although every moment with Fred has entertainment value of its own.

That request from behind the bar was for "Hangman" and it brought the eerie haunting start a rather strange choice maybe for a barmaid's wooing by her subsequent husband.

The rest of the set followed a familiar pattern, but the PA quirkily had DL's vocals coming out of the left hand speaker despite him being on the other side of the stage and I first noticed this on "Tears And Pavan". A bit of a surprise but once you got used to him coming at you from the "other side" it was somehow quite "interesting"

By now you could tell the audience were enjoying the night and like the swollen river Avon passing through the city after all the recent rains, the enthusiasm was flowing and no need to involve the use of barbed wire as a self containing fence and keep them in tonight as the first set closed to prolonged applause – delaying the dash to the bar.

An unexpected taste of……… "To Be Free" kicked off the second set in with an appearance after an awfully long time. The trio with banjo then followed and majestically followed with "Autumn" and the finale of the bluesy "We'll Meet Again"………….and with DL's "bottleneck" playing adding a real nice dimension.

The sound on this night was pretty spot on, even given what happened with the DL vocal feed and Chas's pedals certainly got a real value in the mix and enhanced the mood to terrific effect and very well appreciated by this capacity audience.

P.S If anyone else visits this venue I'll will recommend the nice little drinking house about 50 yards down the road. And DC did treat us all to a brief Rap version of one of tonight's set list – now which one ? – that would be telling !

COX'S YARD, STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, FRI 18 JAN 2008

MOST IMPRESSIVE BIT OF GUITAR PLAYING I HAVE EVER HEARD - Review and pictures by Pete Bradley

Drove up through a very rain-sodden Oxfordshire, to reach a Warwickshire town in preparation for an imminent deluge. The Stratford upon Avon Tourist Office was on flood alert, with sand-bags standing by on their doorstep, whereas Cox's Yard had taken a more pragmatic approach to flooding. By inviting the Strawbs to play you have a guarantee of good weather, (well it worked at Cropredy).

Last year, when the Strawbs played at Cox's Yard, Calli and I missed the support act, as we were chatting with Nigel and Chas in the bar, but this year the bar was both Nigel-less and Chas-less, so we finally had a chance to hear David Bristow. He played some excellent blues, mainly his own material, but also the odd cover, (including Peter Green's "Need Your Love So Bad").

Enjoyed him very much, but the trouble with having a support act is there is less time for the band. David Bristow didn't start till 8:30, with the Strawbs starting at 9:40, so there was only time for a single set, with slightly less songs than if they'd played two. "New World", "Jesus" and "Simple Visions" were all sadly missing (as was "To Be Free").

Cox's Yard is quite a small venue, tucked up in the attic above the main bar. Despite this, they have grandiose ambitions, having added two closed circuit TV screens so that those at the back have a better view. Shame that many of the larger venues haven't adopted that.

I'm probably going to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but in my opinion the sound could have been turned down a little bit considering the size of the venue. It did feel a bit like we were subjected to a bit of a wall of sound. The balance was perfect, (maybe Chas's vocals could have been a bit louder), but there was an occassional blip of feedback which might not have happened with a decibel or two less.

Hadn't read Phil's review of Bath before we went, so we too were really surprised when "Benedictus" finished and morphed into "The Shepherd's Song" rather than "Simple Visions".

When Ian Cutler, Chas and DC played "The Shepherd's Song" at Deal I couldn't believe how beautifully they played it. The violin accompaniement instead of Rick Wakeman's keyboard was simply gorgeous and I said that I thought that version was now THE definitive version. I've changed my mind! I hadn't heard it played with Dave Lambert. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I kept looking to see who was accompanying them on bass (nobody), and Calli was convinced that she could hear trumpets. It simply had to be the most impressive bit of guitar playing I have ever heard.

During "Tears And Pavan" I was a bit worried that DC wasn't feeling well. He looked quite uncomfortable, but it transpired that not only was the sound a bit loud for me, his monitor was subjecting him to a sonic attack that was blasting him off the stage. He described his monitor as a "Trouser Flapper" and then said "Talking of which....Chas", at which point Chas began the opening of "The Hangman And The Papist". Again, an amazing performance seeing that the original featured Rick (with or without a paint-roller).

Sadly they didn't play "To Be Free", but I am very glad that has now been incorporated in the current tour. Apart from "The Golden Salamander", [and "Hanging In The Gallery" which had a brief outing - DG] Nomadness seems to get very overlooked.

Managed to get to chat with all of the Strawbs afterwards, and Bob and Lou. Glad to say that Lou's eye has now recovered. Talked to DC about his new album. He said that he thinks that it is the best thing he has ever done. If it is even better than Boy in a Sailor Suit, it must be truly amazing.

Pictures from Alan Perry

THE DAVID HALL, SOUTH PETHERTON, SAT 19 JAN 2008

WE'LL MEET AGAIN SOMETIME - Review by Nigel Bennett

Like a lot of venues (there have been announcements on Witchwood about others suffering similar fate) local authority funding is being withdrawn, making it even more difficult to run as a live music venue. The loss in this particular site in to 5 figures, but thanks to an enterprising committee the immediate outlook for this venue is good. This is great news as this is somewhere I always look forward to going to – being an old church the acoustics are brilliant – just right for the unaccompanied parts of the show and much, much more.

There is always a good crowd when the band play South Petherton, a venue which holds 150 and tonight was no exception and talking afterwards to some who had never seen the chaps before they were well impressed with the occasion and the playing.

In fact there seem to a Strawbs "friend" in almost every corner of the auditorium and wonder if there's an opening for a new networking web site "Strawbsfriends re-united" after all the fuss about joining facebook , bebo and such like. Oh we have got it already haven't we - its called Witchwood ! – so get on it quick if you are not there already! The link is on the front page of this very site.

The set was pretty much in line with Bath the other night and interestingly there were a few others that had been at that show that were also here and many who mentioned they are looking forward to the electric stuff later in the year as well.

No "To Be Free" tonight, replaced in essence by "Simple Visions" and with the sound in this venue enhancing the evening's entertainment and the show ran pretty much as planned enthralling many who called them back for the encore – this happened a little quicker than might have been planned as when they reached their "dressing room" to the side of the stage – the lights had been turned off during the and rather than risk the darkened edifice they skipped back on stage straight away.

I guess the Local authority funding cuts have a lot to answer for !!

OVINGTON SOCIAL CLUB, OVINGTON, THU 24 JAN 2008

Photos from Alison Brown

THE BEIN INN, GLENFARG, FRI 25 JAN 2008

Photos from Alison Brown

THE BEIN INN, GLENFARG, SAT 26 JAN 2008

Photos and setlist scan from Alison Brown

TUDOR FOLK, WHITE HILL CENTRE, CHESHAM, MON 28 JAN 2008

FIRST-RATE SHOW - Review and pictures from Dick Greener

Arriving at the excellent Tudor Folk Club in Chesham at 8.00 to a full car park, Lindsay and I (fortified by earlier refreshments up the road at the comfortable and welcoming Skidmore Hilton - private joke - instead of arriving two hours early for the gig), found ourselves well back in the queue, with tickets to sort out as well. Nevertheless Lindsay, Jane, Tina (new friend) and I snaffled front row seats - surprising as the seats aren't raked so, although the boys are on a reasonably high stage, those a long way behind might have a bit of a restricted view.

Chatted to DC and Chas beefier the show - an opportunity to hear a quick burst of DC's new solo album with which he is, rightly, very pleased - more on that to come soon.

The hall is tall and airy with quite a lot of light - excellent for photos: wish I'd brought some spare batteries then, as I discovered the ones in the camera were as dead as a dodo !! Fortunately remembered I had some in the boot, so sorted myself out in time for the second act. It's also a good space for acoustics, as I recalled from last time. (Though in the end, as usual for me even with good lighting, it proved difficult to get many unblurred shots of DL as he is always on the move!). The sound was a little quieter than usual, but you could certainly pick up every nuance from where we were - it was like having the band playing in front of you in your front room. Not sure how audible it was at the back.

Owing to logistics/work, my first show of the tour and I'd been looking forward to it immensely. And they certainly didn't disappoint. On stage there was a very relaxed atmosphere - obviously a gig the band enjoy playing - and an increasingly receptive audience as the night went on, relishing the perhaps more folky-oriented setlist which was offered up. An excellent moody "Hangman" featuring Chas's eerie bass pedals and Lambert's guitar tolling the prison bell was particularly well appreciated in the first half, and later "Witchwood" and the closing encore "We'll Meet Again Sometime".

My first hearing of the Acoustic Strawbs version of "The Shepherd's Song" and it's certainly a dazzling performance of this beautiful song, alternating between the gentle verses and the flamenco-style instrumentals, in particular the one which finishes the song off, where Lambert really struts his stuff. With the version of this song featuring Ian Cutler's crazy gypsy violin and the one on Secret Paths with steel guitar, there are there current versions of this - difficult to say which is my favourite, as they're all pretty splendid.

The shy and retiring "To Be Free" - only two specimens noted in the wild as yet - would have to wait, as would the newly revamped "River/Down By The Sea" (despite my comments way back that I didn't mind if this was dropped for a while, I'm more than ready to enjoy hearing this song again - maybe I'll set my sights on the one of the other hardy perennials ;-).

All in all a first-rate show, just the thing to brighten up a chilly Monday night. And, as we walked back to the local Waitrose car park (my car the last in the whole, bare place - gulp!), courtesy of DC, his own CD copy of the new Cousins solo album to enthral us on the way back to East London (via Highgate, but that's another story ...).

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