Once again a previous sin lets the Angels out, and the Demons in

Friday 21 September – sad face, Hazzard County aren’t playing at the Old White Swan – happy face, but The Stanleys are! I know this because it was written on the toilet wall (not my toilet, obviously.) Now I’ve seen The Stanleys before, in fact I’ve paid real pounds and pennies to watch them, so a freebie night sounds brilliant.

We arrive at the usual time, but it’s already really busy. I man, it’s packed to the door and there is a good deal of squeezing and “excuse me”-ing to get anywhere near my usual perch. There’s a lad playing on (plugged in) acoustic guitar. He’s doing a reasonable job, with a voice not unlike Kelly Jones (Stereophonics). I even recognize one of the tunes; Robin Hood, originally by Ocean Colour Scene (B-sides Seasides & Freerides.) His guitar sounded a bit out of tune but he had a good voice, although I never heard his name, so no five minutes of fame for him on this blog! (Unless you know who he was.)

Meanwhile, back at the bar, the John Smiths had been identified a variety that was brewed in Liverpool and not fit for Yorkshire consumption. The word is that many of the pubs in Yorkshire are simply sending it back. I’ll have a pint of Bass, thank you.

I think The Stanleys had brought all their mates along. This is a very crowded public house. As far as I know, The Stanleys have not played in York since January 2007. The first half of the set is OK. They sing and play well. They have a new drummer in the shape of “the quiet one” from Hazzard County (by which I mean Not Tom.) and the tunes are pretty good. The second half is much livelier but they seemed to run out of material as I’m sure I’ve heard at least one tune about twenty minute ago, and the encore is definitely a repeat. Stands to reason I guess, they don’t normally play such a long set. Very enjoyable though.

I notice that the Jed Thomas Band is playing on Sunday. I won’t be able to make that gig. I love this band; they just don’t know how to finish a song so they extend the ending for about ten minutes. Brilliant.

Ooo, Odin Dragonfly got 8/10 in this month’s Classic Rock… in the prog section. I’m not sure about the classification, but the score and the accompanying write up seemed fair to me.