It was another hot night when we travelled to perform at the famous Goose is Out folk club at The Ivy House pub in Nunhead.
A quick glance at the The Goose's website reveals both the quality of the artists that play across its three venues and the energy that organisers Sue and Nygel put into it. We have long been keen to play there and were delighted to receive an invitation to support the wonderful Philip Henry and Hannah Martin. We had been on the same bill as Philip and Hannah almost a year earlier at the Dacorum Folk Festival and, given how much we had enjoyed their company and their music then, we were looking forward to meeting them again. In addition, we had some friends and family coming along to see the performance and we were excited to see them again.
In the spirit of yin and yang and general balance in the universe, Camilla, goddess of the SatNav, dictated that the undoubted pleasures of the evening ahead would first need to be paid for by the hell of navigating the Blackwall Tunnel late on a Friday afternoon. And lo, it came to pass. Mercifully, we managed to arrive at the Ivy House pub in good time for our sound check and it was a pleasure to meet Sue and Nygel who were already there, hard at it, getting the club set up for the evening.
The Ivy House is an award winning, community-owned, pub bought by locals to avoid it being redeveloped for housing. It has a magnificent feel to it and, importantly for the evening ahead, a wonderful performance area with a small but impressive curtained stage, wood panelling and a large seating area.
The other support act for the night, Jimmy Lee, a fine singer from Sussex, arrived shortly after we did and it was very nice to both meet him and, later on, hear some of his poignant self-penned ballads.
We had learned in advance that it was going to be a busy evening for Philip and Hannah. At fairly late notice they had been asked to do a live broadcast on BBC 3 radio at 11:00pm that evening – an opportunity too good for anyone to miss. Given that it was a half an hour journey at least from Ivy House to Broadcasting House, it was clear that the original plan for them to play through to 11:00pm at the Goose was not going to work. So, it was agreed that Philip and Hannah would perform earlier, do their full set in one go, and then make a move on to the BBC at 10:00pm. To accommodate this, we were, therefore, requested to shift our timings and to go on after Philip and Hannah to finish the night off – something we were very happy to do.
Jimmy Lee started the evening and did a nice thirty minute set that got the audience fully engaged. Philip and Hannah then did a thrilling 90 minutes with songs from their last album and some new songs and tunes as well. It was great to again hear personal favourites ‘Silbury Hill’ and ‘The Farmer who Wouldn't Hoe Corn’. Then, after they were deservedly roundly applauded, we were on.
It is pleasing to report that our slight worry that people might wander off home after the main act had finished, didn't come to pass. Philip and Hannah had kindly recommended that people stay and listen to us, and about 50-60 people stayed on after the necessary break taken to get Philip and Hannah’s gear packed up and for them to get going.
Courtesy of a great sound system and an enthusiastic audience, we gave a lively performance that showcased the various strands of our music. It was certainly pleasing as the ‘support’ act to be given both the invitation and the space to play an encore, and quite a few members of the audience came and chatted with us afterwards about different songs we had played.
Many thanks to Sue and Nygel for the invitation to perform at The Goose is Out – it is a great club - and thanks to Philip and Hannah for all their kind words on the evening and subsequently on Twitter. We sincerely hope to get the chance to return to this excellent club in the not too distant future and look forward to meeting Philip and Hannah again somewhere on the circuit.