A really fun night with full audience participation to ALL of our songs. I only hope that patrons at the hotel didn't want an early night as they hadn't got a chance. Once again a good sum for St Giles thanks to Michael Webb's generous rates for the night and his staff's fantastic support.
Press here for the video of the first half.
Press here for the video of the second half.
Initially intended for the nag's Head in Burntwood but last minute change of venue resulted in a good night after so long waiting for the start of live performances.
Great support as usual from the people of Lichfield as we busked for St Giles on our annual U3A music groups venture. A little extra this year when Michelle donated ALL she had before wandering off.
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Our biggest gig so far. 200+ audience made for an exciting but nervous night. Loved it.
A great day with showers all day long but a great session in the main tent as they moved the stage into it for cover.
Press here to view the first half performance video.
Press here to view the second half performance video.
Rain stopped play as the previous act ran for cover. Inside the little changing room tent everyone gathered and we had fun.
Our first attempt at playing in the garden with shelter from a gazebo. It worked and was also used by the Folk Musicians later in the day.
Our third year when the rest of the U3A music groups join us to sing and play Christmas music outside Marks & Spencers, Lichfield. Again we were lucky with the weather and managed, between us, to raise an astonishing total of over £1000.
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As an advertisment to all that the U3A do in Lichfield, a Showcase event took place in Lichfield's Guildhall. Music groups and refreshments down stairs in the Guildroom on a 30 minute rotation. We opened events managing to sneak extra time before the event opened. The short video of The Eagles track - Peaceful Easy Feeling - was during this 'messing about' period pre official performance. Unfortunately it is cut short as the Mayor decided to open the event on the floor above.
On a very cold, windy day we were joined by Lichfield U3A's other music groups, Sing for Pleasure, Recorders, Guitar Group 2 and Folk Musicians.
Thanks to Jack for videoing the entire performance of our second year at the George to a packed house.
All in we played 27 songs as well as including a reflective section to remember Alan's Uncle Will during the 14-18 War. It was well received though it did challenge us to ensure we could move on to perform the R&R sections that ended the night.
An extremely vocal audience rose to the occasion, joining us in most of the songs and what's more they knew all the words.
We were invited to do a set on the Sunday of the weekend on the Main Stage. Excellent weather for the weekend had brought the crowds out and we had the penultimate spot.
Dan the stage manager had already had a full weekend of bands who all have their own ideas that must of tested him to the limit. Then we arrive with far too many guitars and mouths to mic up. He did a great job but it went pear shape pretty quickly. Despite this we carried on and enjoyed ourselves. By the last couple of numbers [Oh Boy and Rock Around the Clock] we nearly had everything working.
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Lichfield Festival's 'open mic' in July 2017. We were excited to be invited to play in front of the Cathedral as part of the annual Lichfield Festival. It was a superb day, sun a little wind (mostly from the band) and a packed crowd who seemed to really enjoy the tracks we did. The technicians did a fantastic job in the 5 minutes they had to set us up. Hopefully back again next year.
Ain't Goin Nowhere by Bob Dylan. Pete and Chris singing lead.
Oh Boy by Buddy Holly.
Sloop John B by the Beach Boys. Listen out for Mark's picking. Envy.
Wagon Wheel by Darius Ruker made famous by the Old Crow Medicine Show. This was the first number we ever did and as such it still holds a special place in our song list.
A warm dry day for December. Lots of people out shopping or going to the Christmas show at the Garrick Theatre. The Recorder group started the day followed by the Acoustic Guitar group (us) and the the Folk Musicians and the Sing for Pleasure groups. Over £500 raised for the St Giles Hospice Appeal and great fun for the band as well as getting a lot of folks singing as they walked past.
Our first ever performance was in the Guildhall, Lichfield for our own Lichfield U3A's 21st birthday bash. Pete had loads of gear and absolutely no idea how to use it. Microphones with out any gain applied, a mixing deck that looked very professional but was treated like a big switch with things simply on or off.
After 3 years of no main events for the band it was refreshing to perform again in the Guildhall, Lichfield UK
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For a bit of fun we assembled a couple of Zoom like videos of ourselves playing:
Teach Your Children and
Sloop John B
By creating a Ghost track everyone recorded themselves singing the songs and then Pete assembled them into a single video. Good fun.
Press here for the resulting set of tracks.
Early 2019 the band decided to have a go at recording a set of tracks within a professional Studio. One off the 'Bucket List' for many of us.
After a little research we selected Bay Ten Studios in Walsall. The young man who runs it, Reece, dealt with our strange set up of 9 acoustic guitars and a few other instruments as best he could.
Press here for the resulting set of tracks.
Thanks to Jack for videoing the entire performance of our second year at the George to a packed house.
All in we played 27 songs as well as including a reflective section to remember Alan's Uncle Will during the 14-18 War. It was well received though it did challenge us to ensure we could move on to perform the R&R sections that ended the night.
Press here for access to individual tracks on the night
An extremely vocal audience rose to the occasion, joining us in most of the songs and what's more they knew all the words.