In my amateur and limited sporting career, I never did manage to score a hat trick. However, our trip to Lost Horizons Music was our third gig in three nights and that counts as a hat trick to me.
Another sunny evening saw us surfing the M25 and M11 to revisit old friends at Lost Horizons Music. Located in a railway arch, the venue, The Wanstead Tap, provides an intimate space to perform in, albeit with occasional distant (but never intrusive) rumblings occurring somewhere up above. The Wanstead Tap is a pleasant little pub with links to a local pizza maker but, when events begin it closes its doors to provide a lovely, listening, environment.
We arrived, as requested, bang on 6:15pm for a sound check. The venue is used regularly for music, literary and comedy events and, as such, the sound system is well established and used, and proprietor of The Wanstead Tap, Dan, knows how to get the very best out of it. As we completed our sound check, our support for the evening, Bitter Sheep, arrived. Hailing from London and Kent, the guitar and banjo sounded lovely during the sound check.
Sound checks complete, we all repaired to the tables set up outside The Wanstead Tap for a snack and a drink in the evening sunshine. One glorious surprise was to see the one and only Steve O'Donoghue calling in to say ‘hello’ and have a pint. Readers of this blog will know that Rob and I have the highest possible regard for Steve's songwriting prowess. We first met him at the Loughton Folk Club but, as Steve explained, these days he's enjoying listening to music rather than writing. However, he mentioned that he is still juggling ideas and rhymes. So, we live in hope that those ideas and rhymes form a future raft of great songs from a truly great songwriter.
Whilst chatting, we heard from Steve and Lost Horizons Music organisers, Paul and Trish, that the phenomenon that is Robb Johnson was performing a free gig that evening in nearby Walthamstow and that this would likely prove a competing attraction for potential audience members. That, coupled with it being the Pride march in central London, European Nations football on the telly and it being such a blisteringly beautiful sit-and-have-a-beer-in-the-garden evening, did conspire to keep numbers down a little. It was, therefore, doubly encouraging when half of a dozen of our friends from the Loughton Folk Club and the international Brigades Memorial Trust turned up to bolster numbers for the evening.
After delaying the start time slightly to allow more people to arrive, Bitter Sheep kicked the evening off with a half hour set of instrumentals and traditional songs. These were all beautifully performed, with sweet and tuneful harmonies.
Then, after a 15-minute break to recharge glasses, Rob and I went on. Lost horizons Music is a concert venue rather than a folk club and this meant we were going to be playing a 75-90 minute set straight through. This was our first time with such an arrangement. So, I will confess to being a little worried that energy levels might drop in the second half. However, the pre-gig sandwich and banana did the trick, and I need not have worried. Indeed, such was our engagement that I was shocked to see we had done a 75-minute set and still had about 25 minutes of material left. Part of the reason for this was us inserting some Spanish Civil War songs into the usual set. Anyway, Rob and I quickly reviewed our remaining setlist and plotted a course to end on around 90 minutes' worth of material ….. but with still enough puff left for an encore of Maid of Culmore.
The reaction from the small but perfectly formed audience was wonderful. They seemed to have enjoyed the concert immensely and, as we slowly packed away our gear, we had lots of conversations with audience members who’d loved the show before tumbling out into the balmy late June evening.
This part of London is well known to Rob. So, he was able to take over the driving and guide us home via the quickest route, round the North Circular and onto the M1. It was a late arrival home but, sod it, it was still a lovely evening and so, for the second night running, I poured myself a beer and took it and my book into the garden for a half hour wind down before turning in.
Many thanks to Paul, Trish and Dan at Lost Horizons Music for looking after us so well on the evening and we wish them, The Wanstead Tap and Bitter Sheep all the very best for the future.