Following our visit to the Lost Horizons Folk Club back in mid-April 2011, organisers Trish and Paul had invited us back to play as part of the Leytonstone Festival - something we were very pleased and willing to do.
Our blog record for the 15th April 2011 records what a lively place this is to play – this is no ordinary folk club. We were again upstairs at The Sheepwalk pub on Leytonstone High Street, and the atmosphere was similarly buzzing to the last time we had been there. Trish and Paul were wonderfully welcoming again. The upstairs room in the pub was once again filled with young people meeting and greeting each other, and the support they gave for the acts drawn from their group of friends was great and very touching –the young talent on show at the club is truly excellent.
Steve O’Donoghue started the night and was superb at getting everybody up and going. I don’t know whether he has ever recorded his song ‘Accident of Birth’ , about the various ways in which ‘they’ are just the same as ‘us’ – but I love it and think it very very insightful. Amongst others, Steve’s son Will did a great set of numbers. Paul and Trisha’s son, James did similarly – with friends knowing all the words, etc. George Gilman did an excellent set, as his brother had done earlier – these are two very talented siblings!
The other support guests for the evening were the virtuoso duo Bow and Bellows, playing music from across central and eastern Europe. If you haven’t seen Bow and Bellows, you should go and have a look – they play with both humour and great musicality.
We played a variety of loud and soft, and both got a wonderful listening to. After the Fringe in the Fen gig, we were on top of our game and felt we did really well. Russ, from Walthamstow Folk Club was on sound, and did an excellent job for us and, somehow, his sound mix and the atmosphere generally seemed to draw a little bit extra from us.
Top of the bill was Robb Johnson with his high energy, high powered songs about the plight of Britain today – all with great rhythm and memorable lyrics. This was the first time I had seen him play – and he really got the jive jumpin’. How his hand doesn’t drop off from the complex strumming patterns he does, I’ll never know!
With Rob driving and us finished with a while to go before the bar closed, a couple of pints of Speckled Hen then went down very well – a nice way to end a hardworking musical week – and no 6.00am start the next morning!
Thanks to Trish and Paul, and all the home team at Lost Horizons for another enjoyable evening and looking after us so well again.