Acoustic Night

Review by James Bunting

Andi opens the proceedings… “get warm by getting up and running around!” promising an active evening.

We start the night with two Acoustic Night virgins…
CARLY AND GRAHAM who begin with a new and untitled song. Carly’s smoky voice over Graham’s picked guitar opening the night in true, beautiful Acoustic Night style.

GARY DEATH is a familiar face back after six months. He performs a poem which shocks the audience about ‘the only Glaswegian dominatrix in Amsterdam” and then about trees making a stand…Welcome back Gary! With all the cussing we’re still glad to have you back.

Our second musician, and third virgin, has CDs to sell. Hands together for SEAN SAYE. ‘You’re a mountain to climb’ is a wonderfully performed ballad to relinquish his virginity. His second piece is equally brilliant. Sean is not a local but we hope he passes through again soon.

HELEN GREGORY treated us to her usual high quality performance. To steal a phrase, it was “sonorous, sensual…”

Next up was Acoustic Night veteran PHIL BABER who, after BBC censors, was glad to be able to freely perform two songs in Spanish. Both as enjoyable as always.

A poetry and music combo followed. ELEANOR AND LEONIE on vocals and accordion respectively. The song lyrics, In Avatar, are from a poem by our own Hazel Hammond. Eleanor was accompanied by Leonie on accordion and a backing track on CD. Passionate and powerful.

PETE GIOCONDA & THE DEARSTALKER With a name like that who knows what to expect but we’ve seen Pete before and we know he’ll be good. After a brief ear-splitting ‘techniccup’ we’re back on track and Pete and the bongo fella deliver a top notch performance.

Our last act of the first half is Acoustic Night stalwart PETE HUNTER. Pete also sets up a CD sample track and his first piece ‘Lovedrops’ brings laughs all around. The second piece is equally impressive, a tip of the hat to Bristol Beauty and we tip our proverbial hats to a fine performer.

Our Special Guest for the night is SUZY CONDRAD accompanied by her sister LIZZY. Suzy begins with ‘30 Below’ a mellow and beautifully harmonised piece about not being able to love anyone. The second song ‘Hotline’ is dedicated to their father, a wonderfully constructed melody which suits the sisters varied vocal style very well. The third song’Geen Bottles’ is eerie and powerful and captures the audience completely. Suzy takes a seat and ‘Stop the Carousel’ slowly progresses in pace and focuses on Suzy’s vocal ability. On her last song ‘Last man standing’ she plays tambourine with her foot (a la Rachel Dadd et al) a catchy upbeat song to round off a wonderful set. But wait… an encore! And Suzy doesn’t disappoint with ‘Dear Simone’ for me the best song of the set. A truly brilliant performance. Look out for her CD soon.

Andi offers a ‘Tribute to Beauty’ for the many faces that make up the audience and her life. As is so common with Andi’s poetry she has the audience captivated.

JAMES BUNTING on his last visit for some time (he’s off to S.E Asia) gives us a new song, plaintive yet strong and then one that has been a feature of his recent sets. Reminiscent of current troubadors James still is his own man. Bon Voyage fella!

HAL ‘Badgertrap’ CAMPLIN apologises for interrupting our evening but we don’t mind. After a long rambling waffle we hear some music. Hal just wants to sit here and eat cake. His second song is a ‘tribute’ to his Granny. The audience is perfectly entertained.

IAN SILLS comes onstage after a brief introduction and performs ‘Oscar the grouch’ about his darker side and the way Acoustic Night lightens it. Well Ian sustained the already lightened mood!

A relative newcomer by the name of CHARLIE ANSELL takes the stage. He follows the tried and tested formula of an updated folk song ‘ A wing and a prayer’ and then a rant about “my local radio station doesn’t play local tunes”. He makes the point in this well written song.

Next up, described by Andi as “a sublime presence” is CATHY KEAL. A
really special talent. Truly brilliant.

The penultimate act before anarchy sets in is DAVID BOSANKOE with his signature Jews harps. Unusual and very enjoyable especially with audience participation. Joined by Phil Baber, Dave again catches the audience.

Finally JULIAN RAMSEY-WADE comes up to blow us away (as usual!!) Tonight he performs a cover poem and everyone, as predicted, is blown away….

First up in the anarchy hour is KIMBERLEY with a poem about the mating game. A brilliant talent but it’s a shame we don’t see her enough. Although she seems nervous she dedicates the poem to Andi and it’s as passionate as Andi is, wonderful!

The rest was pretty awesome but after a few Gems I forget to blog it.

Sadly our camera gave us a hard time and we are gutted there are no fotos of this pretty special night. Duh!!!

ACOUSTIC NIGHT STATS

AUDIENCE 45
PERFORMERS 23
VIRGINS 4