The King’s Head Hotel Louth

Strip My Veins Tour 2010

10 years! Yep, it’s 10 years since the band formerly known as The Carnival Of Thieves were last in Louth however they more than made up for it with a storming rock and blues jammin’ session from Joolz on bass & vocals, Johnny F.D. Bazooka on drums and Harris Nixon with guitar & vocals.

You don’t get a set list with experienced bands like this, they just go for it, chucking in stuff from all angles like a 15 minutes version of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World”, 20 minute long medleys that start off and finish with “All Or Nothing” but seemlessy blended in the middle are tracks done in their own style such as Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock”, “Shake It All Over” and a Rolling Stones track which I can’t remember right now!

Not only do they play to the crowd they also entertained with both guitarists wandering behind the bar picking up anything they could find and using them to play their insturments…when I mean anything it included a mobile phone, a cuddly teddy, a lemon, toothpicks and, wait for it, the glass tray out of the glass washer! I never realised just how easy it is to play a guitar:-)

So what did we end with? Beef has been asking for ages for someone to do it and tonight his request came through and for the first ever performance at The Kings, written by Neil Young in 1975 and released on “American Stars ‘N Bars in 1977″, “Like A Hurricane” is an all-time rock classic and The Carnival did it complete justice and I’m guessing at somewhere about 15 minutes or so.

Was that it? Supposedly however they couldn’t resist having a bit more fun with some great A cappella featuring of all things and yet another Kings first, from Peter, Paul and Mary in 1963…”Puff The Magic Dragon”…seriously, they did.

At the end of the night there was only one question on everyone’s lips, when are they coming back? As usual keep an eye on the calendar however we’re working on it but please remember this is a very hard-working band, we’ll do our best.

By heck it was hot in the Kings! Near panic set in Friday night when the band called to say their lead singer was ill, last minute replacements are not very easy to find and fortunately their pharmacist saved the night.

It’s very easy to forget just how good some of our local talent is and especially when they’ve not been for 6 months. These guys have it in abundance and gave us two sets with 28 classic cover songs several of which we’re certain have never been played live here before.

Their first set kicked off with “American Girl” by Tom Petty, “The Circle” by Ocean Colour Scene, “Yellow” from Coldplay, “Ziggy Stardust” by David Bowie, “High and Dry” From Radiohead, yep, all good stuff and enthusiastically played.  They finished off their first set with “Mr Brightside” from The Killers and “Karma Police” from Radiohead.

So to their second set which didn’t even start until 11.30 pm and straight into The Libertines “Don’t Look Back In The Sun” followed up by “Molly Chambers” from the Kings of Leon. Some Razorlight and The Cribs were followed by a definite Kings first, “Break On Through” by The Doors, fantastic stuff and very well played and a couple of songs later another first and probably my favourite Beatles track, “Back In The USSR”.  “Paint It Black” from The Rolling Stones was followed by yet another first, The Moody Blues “Nights In White Satin” and yet another 60s classic “Substitute” from The Who.

Of course they played some good stuff for the younger element from the Kings of Leon, Editors, Killers and wound up with their encore with “Run” by Snow Patrol. For those who missed this superb night Kandis will be back very soon playing the closing night of the Louth Music Festival at The Kings on Saturday July 10th.

One thing we all agreed last night was this was definitely the very first time that the tremendous and legendary 1971 Focus track “Hocus Pocus” had been play live at the Kings, no mean feat considering they didn’t have a flute or an accordion with them and the yodelling was simply, very surprising.

Rough Trade are a great, fun band, they love what they’re doing and it is very evident by the huge effort they expend and the Kings’ crowd appreciate them for that. This time they were playing through Balding Bloke’s sound system and the difference was just huge as they hopped, skipped and jumped through their set list lasting nearly three hours with a short break in the middle.

What did we get? “Ace Of Spades”,  “Paranoid”, “Breaking The Law”, “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love”, “Dr Dr”,  “Tobacco Road”, “Lil’ Devil”, a Status Quo Medley, you name it, they probably played it at some point and they finished, of course, with their version of “Johnny B. Goode”, a superb night and we look forward to seeing them again.

…At The Kings that is!

It must be a daunting task debuting at The Kings just knowing the very high calibre of bands that play there. I understand that The Bush Doctors are not a regular venues band and even with the excellent sound provided by Balding Bloke their seeming lack of regular practice and mish mash of songs jumping from one genre to another had regulars slightly bemused, nevertheless they acquitted themselves adequately and their travelling fans thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

A couple of hours and two sets of covers came from bands such as Dire Straits, ZZ Top, Fleetwood Mac, The Stone Roses, Steve Miller, Girls Aloud, Martha and the Muffins, Free and culminated with “Mr Brightside” from The Killers.

Only a few weeks after their first appearance at The Kings,  Joker were requested to play a birthday party gig/bash/thrash and what a fantastic night.

This time they nailed their sound as they rattled off classic track after classic track and even improvising the words to fit in with Becky’s party in “Whiskey In The Jar”. Obviously there was some Steppenwolf, AC/DC, Deep Purple, some Kinks, “Teenage Kicks”, not that any of us are in that age group, and as the night rocked on the band enjoyed themselves more and more utilising the furniture to great effect to gain height and finished off with their version of the classic Chuck Berry “Johnny B. Goode”.

Joker are booked for much later in the year however they are rapidly becoming the King’s new favourite young band therefore do not be surprised if they make another appearance at short notice.