Friends and Music

It's been a while since I posted, but there hasn't, until now, been much going on. I've been looking at houses, and not liking any of them very much, and I've been having a nasty cold, and not enjoying it very much, and none of that would be interesting to read about in any detail.

However, on Wednesday evening, Thea Gilmore was playing in Bath, and I had a ticket.

I went straight into Bath from work, and spent some time looking around the Christmas Market (not too crowded at that time) and had a quick pub supper, (well, as it turned out, a very slow pub supper - I think they forgot my order half way through. But it was tasty) 

I met up with friends, who (as we worked out, eventually) I haven't seen since I bumped into them at the last Thea Gilmore gig we went to, which is about four years ago. It was good to catch up, and as the shw started a bit later than advertised, we had time to chat!

The show was opened by  Nigel Stonier, who is Thea's husband and a talented songwriter in his own right, and who played us several of his own songs, then, after the interval, returned in his capacity of Thea's guitarist/keyboard player.

Thea was also accompanied by a wonderful cellist, and a violinist, and in two songs, by a 2nd violinist, her 7 year old son, Egan.

It was a fun evening. as it's now December, THea sang some of her Christmas song, although we were a little disappointed that we didn't get to hear Sol Invictus. But even without that it was wonderful! 

The only down side was that when I got to the car park to drive home I found I had to scrape ice off the windscreen before I could drive home. I don't approve. It's one thing on the  morning, but when going home it seems unreasonable!

In which there is more Rock!

I only realised a couple of weeks ago that Thea Gilmore would be playing in Bristol as part of her Wintertide tour, so I was happy to find that there were still tickets available, so last night found me heading over to Bristol (second time in two weeks - whereas normally I go very rarely,as I hate the traffic!)

When I arrived it was to an apologetic note on the door at the venue to say the doors wouldn't be opening until 8p.m. (The tickets said 7) - happily however I bumped into a coupe who were also arriving for the gig, and the three of us went off to a nearby pub for a quick drink while we were waiting - (of course, there are those who would say one shouldn't go off for drinks with strangers, but hey, you've got to live a little!

When we came back a little after 8 the doors were open, and when I went in, I bumped into a friend of mine & her husband. I hadn't known she was a fan of Thea's, so it came as a (nice) surprise.

The show was in a hall at the Bristol Folk House - it felt a little like a school hall, to start with, however, once the music started that was all forgotten.

The show was opened by Rod Clements (late of Lindisfarne), which was fun, then Thea herself came on after the interval.

She was accompanied by Nigel Stonier (gutiar, vocals, and occassional piano) and by 'Fluff' (violin, vocals and percussion) and the music was mostly from her new 'Strange Communion' album, so lots of new music, (for some of which, Rod Clements came back on stage) as well as one or two covers.

The evening seemed to pass very quickly, and before we knew it we reached the encore stage. Thea explained that while it's a while until Christmas, to help us all to get into the festive spirit she and the band had made a dart-board of really cheesy christmas songs (Fairy Tale of New York was excluded for being too good) and a member of the audience was invited to select one by the throw of a dart, to be sung in an (in)appropriate style....

We got 'So here it is, Merry Christmas' sung as a slow ballad... which, I think we can all agree, is an excellent way to sing it :-)

It made for a delightful end to the evening. And then, wnen it was over, there was the opportunity to say hello to Thea and the other musicians and to buy a copy of the new CD.

A most excellent evening.