Saturday 14 March- Part 2 of our musical weekend, and four of us are back in The Roman Bath to watch the Chantel McGregor Band. It has to be said that, since first watching Chantel, we've never failed to catch her at The Bath. She is an awesome guitar virtuoso. Name your personal guitar god and Chantel is at least as good, probably better. I kid you not.
I freely admit that I struggle to recognise a lot of the stuff she plays, and I suspect that most of her audience are little better than me. That said, she captivates the crowd with her sheer, mind-blowing brilliance. You just have to stand there, slack-jawed, and watch her. She kindly provided me with her set list, but she missed out some from the list, played other stuff, and not necessarily in the order written. Who cares. It was superb. Anyway, here's the list: Bridge to Better Days (Joe Bonamassa), Lie No. 1 (Joe Bonamassa), Stormy Monday (T Bone Walker), Up in The Sky (Joe Satriana), Daydream (Robin Trower), Miss You Hate You (Joe Bonamassa), Gold Dust Woman (Fleetwood Mac), All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan), Angel From Montgomery (Bonnie Raitt), I Can't Make You Love Me (Bonnie Raitt), One Of These Days (Ten Years After), Purple Haze (Hendrix), Red House (Hendrix), Voodoo Chile (Hendrix), New Day Yesterday (Jethro Tull), Mountain Time (Joe Bonnamassa), and Had To Cry Today (Blind Faith). But there was definitely two Steve Vai numbers, one of which was For The Love Of God.
Friday 13 March- the start of a musically packed weekend. We kicked off at The Duchess for the album launch of 98Pages. We've seen this band a couple of times before and were looking forward to seeing them again, but first we had to get through the support acts. I arrived as the first band started the evening. They looked strangely familiar. I swear the running order said Ashtray, but apparently my eyes must have been watering with the delight of my first sip of beer, as it actually said Astray. Even that was wrong because they turned out to be Astrae (on MyFace and FaceFriend), another band that we had seen before. The last time we saw them it was a bit chaotic, Jack with his arm in plaster, James with guitar cable problems, and the whole band with a dischordant air about themselves. Astrae are a York-based alt-rock band consisting of James A Hutchinson (Guitar / Vocals), Jack Beavers (Guitar / Synth / Vocals), Ali Thyne (Drums / Percussion), Rio (Keyboard / Synth), T-Bone Malogus (Bass and pineapple knot hair do), and Jo Wherry (Violin). I think the first song was called Vanity Fair, but I wouldn't swear to it. I liked it. In fact I rather like all their songs. These are not 3 minute blasts of noise, but rather well-crafted, lengthier pieces with, dare I say it, different 'movements' to each composition. James' vocals put me in mind of Robert Smith of The Cure. Jo's violin provided a solid background sound for the twin guitars to paint over the top of. She looks so elegant to boot. All the instruments seemed to be in tune tonight, except for the keyboards, which seemed to be playing different tunes from everyone else. It was a far from perfect performance, and I'm sure the band would agree with me on that, but they have a spark, an originality that somehow raises them up above the usual dross and I will keep looking out for them, to watch them as they develop, because there is definitely something special there.
Which is more than can be said for Bolton's To The Bones, which consists of Rhys G Bradley (Vocals / Guitar), Matt Evans (Guitar / Vocals), Toomy T (Drums), and Wayne Riley (Bass). In fairness the volume seemed to be mixed very loud for tonight's performances which didn't help their sound that was hardcore from the very start. One of our group was forced to resort to ear defenders. Apparently they have an album, Duke Type A, which was released back in September. I shan't be buying it. Each song sounded the same, was dull and loud. The vocals were muddy and indistinct. Sorry guys.
Finally, 98Pages took to the stage and we all pressed forward to within touching distance of the barriers. Not that the band were bothered as both Martyn and Jase jumped down between the stage and the barriers to prowl up and down before their fans. 98Pages are a York-based power blues trio consisting of; Martyn Fillingham (Vocals/Guitar), Jase Brooks (Bass), and Andy Black (Drums). As this was our third time of listening, some of the tracks were becoming familiar to us now; Goodbye JoJo, Same Old Pain, Only Let You Down, Careful, and Halfway House. Martyn bust a string on their opening number which led him to chuck his guitar away with distain as he plucked up a semi-acoustic and carried on with that for the rest of the performance. It was all good stuff and at the end a couple of us purchased a copy of the album, Broken homes and the halfway house, which was on sale for the bargain price of a fiver.
After the gig we wandered over to The Roman Bath where party band CopOwt were playing. CopOwt are a five-piece covers band from Copmanthorpe, just outside York, and consist of: Rob (vocals), Alan (guitar and vocals), Paul (guitar), Paul (drums), and Seon (bass and vocals). As covers bands go they've not technically that good, but where they score points is in selecting covers that get the whole crowd singing along with them. So no one actually cares if if they can play well or not, 'cos everyone enjoys a good old sing-along. What did they play? While we were there they got through: When the sun goes down (Arctic Monkeys), Should I stay or should I go (Clash), Pretty Vacant (Sex Pistols), Sex on fire (Kings of Leon), Dakota (Stereophonics), Cigarettes and Alcohol (Oasis), Local Boy in a Photograph (Stereophonics), I Predict a Riot (Kaiser Chiefs), and Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol).
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