Football fever and incredible temperatures took their toll on numbers this evening, meaning that those that came got a few more songs and those that came along for the first time thought what a nice quiet evening.
#1 Roadie was not happy about shifting all of the gear with it being so hot, so on the open music night that is closest to the longest day in the hottest summer since 1976, we decided to dispense with the lighting rig, forget the sub-woofer and the bass amp, and keep the set up as simple as possible. The benefit of this was that we were ready to go by 7pm.My opening three were Old Town Blues, without harmonica breaks; I'm going to have to get on top of that. It would give the song a nice balance and stretch the length a bit.
With the loathsome Donald Trump's arrival in the UK imminent, it seemed appropriate to sing The Canary In The Coal Mine. The third song was Lonely Man Blues. After the break I opened with my cheery song about death, followed by my NHS protest song 'Too Posh to Wash' and one of my most recent ones, 'Holding The Butterfly.
Next up was first time visitor to The George, John Hill, who we met at The Memorial Tractor Run Open Mic Night that Steve Edgar organised.Leonard Cohen featured highly in his selection. He began with 'First We Take Manhattan' then 'Who By Fire' and finally, the less well known, 'Heart With No Companion'.
John's second half was less so, with a chirpy 'Dancing In The City' to start, followed by a song, the title of which I missed except for something about hunger. I caught the third one though, The Connells' '74 75'.
Steve Edgar was in melancholy mood this evening, beginning with one of his favourite lesser known bands, The Decemberists, and their 'From My Own True Love, Lost At Sea' followed by Roger Waters', famous for his cheery numbers, 'Granchester Meadows', before racing up to date with George Ezra's 'My Home In Budapest'.
After the break Steve was back with a song by John Holt,'The Morning of My Life' before launching into another Decemberists' song, 'Eli The Barrow Boy'. His final song of the night was Pink Foyd's 'Wish You Were Here'. Incidentally, Steve's Bob Munro Memorial Event raised over £600; a fantastic effort.
Mike and John were in touch with their feminine sides this evening. Their first was Bob Dylan's, or was it Adele's, 'Make You Feel My Love'.That was followed by Judy Collins' 'Both Sides Now' and then Joni Mitchel's 'Big Yellow Taxi'.
Their contribution to the second half began with Loreena McKennit's fabulous folky tune, 'Come By The Hills', then from the sublime to the ridiculous, Mac Davis' 'It's Hard To Be Humble'.
There was a cheeky segue in their third song, or did they just deliberately crash into a fourth, going from David Blagrove's Hard Working Boater to Creedance Clearwater Revival's 'Stuck In The Middle With You'.
Now, 'what about MDF?' I hear you asking. Well, without our principle songsters Ross and Tracey and without #1 guitar Mike to keep time, we were a bit on the light side, so Mike Newhouse stood in on vocals.At the time of writing I have absolutely no recollection of what we performed. I wonder what Freud would have made of that.
The evening was finished with an unrehearsed attempt at Fisherman's Blues with Steve on vocals and guitar. It didn't go well as we were playing slightly differing versions. Maybe next time.
