A “Let’s Try And Catch-Up” Post!
All budding bloggers please feel free to help out, I’m snowed-under with work!
Guy Fawkes Night saw the return of The Backstreet Blues Band who always give a fabulous performance but even more so this time during the second set with some of the best guitarmanship at The Kings in a long, long time. Saturday 12th November and The What…just What can I write about them that’s not been written before? Yet another great night from them and enjoyed by all their supporters.
Children In Need Night with Balding Bloke was a fun night again and as of today, 6th January 2012, so far £26,332,334 has been raised and that includes a few hundred from The Kings’ regulars, thank you. Stolen Fridays appeared on Saturday 19th November. I didn’t make the gig however I am reliably informed by ALL the bar staff that they were up on the counter dancing the night away.
26th November and one of Lincolnshire’s gems, The Zimmer Band. If you’ve never seen them before then they are a “must see” band, they are simply superb and in 2012 The Kings has them appearing TWICE! The Xmas month of December arrived on Friday 2nd featuring local classic blues maestros Stunz and Harpman who seem to be appearing at venues all over the place, although it’s hardly surprising such is the quality of their musicianship, yet another superb night.
On the Saturday night we had the loadsa energy band, The Influential Factor, with all kinds of thoroughly entertaining music, enough genres for everyone! The following Sunday afternoon was the Xmas shopping and market in town and for a very busy bar The What performed three very varied sets over nearly four hours. I have a feeling we can expect more Sundays like this in 2012…yay:-)
Circa made a return visit on December 10th, their first in more than a couple of years and I’d forgotten just how good they are, please don’t forget where we are again:-) A week to go before Xmas and Witt-Less made a return but this time for their first-ever gig on a Friday night. Unfortunately they had some sound engineering issues in the first set with some of their kit conflicting with BB’s however by the time I got there it had mostly been resolved which just goes to show that when using a sound engineer don’t go around plugging stuff in willy nilly.
I missed The Soul Solution on Saturday 17th and by all reports their non-regular sound engineer struggled all night to “push” the vocals more than halfway down the bar which is a great pity since they normally give an all-round good performance. Xmas Eve Eve with Dave and Co from Rough Trade complete with new drummer up on a podium! Of course we had all their usual stuff and some new…Blues Brothers…however, being honest, the unexpected surprise of the night was the new drummer. Obviously a pro and obviously thoroughly enjoying himself with hardly any effort.
Xmas Eve and who else but The What and an absolutely heaving bar. As always a solid performance from them plus one or two not-so-surprising guests these days especially John’s rendition of The Manics “Design For Life”. Strangely the bar closed extremely early for a Saturday night whilst it was still very busy and the band willing to go on for another hour or more…ah well, at least I didn’t have a hangover on Xmas Day.
And finally to New Year’s Eve and a new band to The Kings, Funk’Defino. Say it quickly and I think you’ll probably get the gist that this was a very newly-formed band with vocals and instrumentals all over the place leaving Balding Bloke with the almost impossible task of rescuing the night…and he successfully did so once they completed their last set!
The idiom “Practice makes perfect” comes to mind here.
So what did I make of 2011’s performances?
Constantly reliable plus ready to step in for an emergency - The What
My favourite performance of the year - The Steve Fulsham Band
Surprise bands of the year - Mr Stiff and The League of Mentlemen
Disappointed they’ve split-up band - Joker
Most improved band - Trip to the Roses
Constant favourites - Starvin’ Sid, Stunz and Harpman, The Legendary Night Owls
Bring on 2012, some fresh bands already booked and ready for the slaughter:-)