Maggie's Farewell sounds like the title of a folk song, and no doubt it's a sad one. This Maggie's Farewell was another packed open music night by The Kilsby Open Music Collective, and while there were one or two somber moments, the evening was mostly a celebration of appreciation for our lovely host, Maggie Chandler, who leaves The George towards the end of October. The Kilsby Open Music Collective, Open Music Night, once known as 'Paddy Wex and Friends', has been running for years. The last four years has seen the progressive development of the event from an acoustic folk music evening to a 'gig' with PA and lights. The latest addition being a multichannel mixing desk that #1 Roadie has taken a shine to. It was also the first open music night since the news of Tom Petty's passing, so a few of his songs found their way into the performances.
Proceedings began on time, ten minutes late, and I opened with two of my favourite songs
Mike and John follwed, with John on the spooky sounding autoharp 'Hardworking Boater' and 'Come By The Hills'.
They ended their evening's performance in the second half of the night with their rendition of the well known Eskimo mealtime song, 'Whale Meat Again'. Actually, it was an interesting delivery of the Vera Lynn saying good bye song
Nigel and Darren, as Odds and Ends with accompaniment by Hedley on violin. When I booked them in I asked if Hedley was joining them and they didn't know. At that moment, as if by magic Hedley appeared. Their Bob Dylan repertoire is growing and their delivery just gets better and better. Tonight we had a Ben E King sandwich. Dylan's 'You Ain't Going Nowhere', followed by Ben E King's 'Stand By Me' and then back to Bob for 'Knocking On Heaven's Door'.
Inspired by the prospect of Maggie's retirement Steve Edgar raised the cultural component by performing 'Leisure', by Welsh poet, W.H Davies "what is this life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare" with a musical accompaniment. This he followed
by the most popular funeral song, Frank Sinatra's 'My Way', not the sex pistols version, but one we all knew and joined in with.He ended his evening's selection with a superb account of Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven'. Hedley joined in on violin and between them they made the hair stand on the back of my neck. 
It was great to have Stained Grass Bluegrass with us again. This evening they performed Special Consensus Band's, 'Leaving Town' followed by Gordon Lightfoot's, 'The Redwood Hills'
Pete and Marian provided the next Tom Petty song, 'Free Falling'. They were were then joined by MDF's Mark on accordion, The Levellers 'What A Beautiful Day'
The first song from Ian was a swinging version of Tom Waits' Chocolate Jesus. This was followed by a song written for Nina Simone, but made famous by The Animals, 'Lord Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood'.
After the break Ian began with 'Wide Eyed and Legless', but he'd probably had too much
beer, so he stopped and performed Mungo Jerry's 'In The Summertime' instead. It
isn't often that a performance is highjacked by a member of the
audience, but John, mistaking an empty proseco bottle for a musical instrument leapt to his feet and puckered up very intimately. How Ian maintained his composure I'll never know, but he couldn't have minded too much as he invited John to join him at the subsequent 'Folk At The Oak' night the following Thursday. 
An almost complete MDF lineup offered the last of the Tom Petty tributes, from their regular set list, Travelling Wilburys' 'End of The Line' and then a crowd pleasing rework of Bob Dylan's 'Maggie's Farm'. The lyrics of which were laminated and signed by all of the evening's performers for Maggie to take away with her.
The evening ended as they often do, with an ensemble peice; this time lead by MDF.
The new owner of The George is keen for things to carry on, so we are
back in November, though I can't say that there will be bangers and mash
just yet.
