Well, we did it! We managed to get a hulking PA system, six instruments, three overnight bags, a holdall of cables, coats and post-gig beers into a car with three passengers, including our 6ft 5in pal, Dave. With this ingenuity, pyramids are built
Thus, we set off for Bristol just before lunchtime on a baking hot Saturday with no trains running. Not surprisingly, the M25 was almost a car park. So, it was a slow crawl to the M4 and then off. Smooth running after that up to Membury services where we bought sarnies and fruit for lunch and some ready meals to cook in our Airbnb before the concert.
We’d chosen an Airbnb because the ‘Budget hotel chains’ seem to have stopped being budget for the moment. So, an Airbnb seven miles from the gig looked the most attractive option.
Having bought the wherewithal for an early evening meal, we set about cooking it around 5:00pm- ish, only to be utterly flummoxed by the Airbnb oven. The entire workings of the damn machine had been reduced to a single, circular, button in the centre of a black panel. So, rather like extras from the early scenes of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, we had three adult males of the species peering blankly at the lights, jumping at the occasional beeps given off by the oven. Thankfully, it did seem to heat to a decent temperature on its own and we were eventually able to have us a bite to eat before performing.
Just before 6:00pm we set off to the gig. The Redcatch Club is hosted in the Redcatch Community Centre in the Knowle area of Bristol. The venue has a nice, large, space with a low stage for performance.
Hosts Trevor and Sally arrived at 6:30pm and we were able to get the PA system into the venue and set up reasonably quickly. It was a baking hot evening and even the lightest of labours brought beads of sweat to the brow.
Fairly soon after, club members, floor singers and support for the evening, Steve James, arrived and we had chance to chat with them before the evening began.
At 7:45pm prompt, MC Trevor Carter announced the first-floor spots. We were treated to some original, topical songs, from Nigel, some Ry Cooder and Tim O'Brien from Derek, a Johnny Coppin song from Ian and Jan, and then an excellent support slot from Steve James that ranged from some punchy topical themes to hilarious ditties on guitar and banjolele for the hypochondriac and the miserable.
After a short break, host Trevor delivered his epic poem on How the West was Lost, telling the story of America through the eyes of its first nations.
With a decent sized audience now assembled, we then took to the stage for the first of our two 40-minute sets. Both sets seemed to go very well, with excellent audience participation on the choruses and close attention paid to our quieter pieces. The evening around 10:30pm with Maid of Culmore as an encore.
Audience members were very kind in terms of their feedback, possibly leading to more club and festival bookings in the Bristol area in 2024. They also bought a decent number of CDs to take home, for which we'd like to say many thanks.
By this time, those cold beers secreted in the fridge back at the Airbnb were calling to us. So, we hastily packed the PA system away, stuffed the guitars back into the car (upside down, pointing into the seat well) and said our goodbyes to Trevor and, Sally before hightailing it home. God, those beers were good, and they certainly sent us all off to our respective beds nice and tired for a good night's kip.
It is sad to report that our visit would be the last event for the Redcatch Club. For various reasons, Trevor and Sally have decided to call it a day and, without others to take it on at the moment, the club will now close. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank them for their kind invitation to us to perform at the Redcatch club and we wish them both all the very best for their future ventures and we wish Trevor well with his writing.