28th August 2012

A simple remedy for those summertime blues…

 

With the chance of ever getting a bit of sunshine this summer steadily slipping away, it was up to the finest of Newport’s musicians to raise the spirits of everyone present at the Newport open mic session on Tuesday.

Richard Thomas and Andy Clarke warmed the audience up with some selected cuts from the glory years of rock and roll. A pair of Chuck Berry and Little Richard numbers gave resident sound man Adam enough time to get the volume levels sorted.

From deep in the shadows of the crowd, a young girl in a floral dress nervously crept up on to the stage. This was Melissa Severn, vintage tinged love songs and delicate soaring vocals were the order of the evening. Melissa took the crowd through a three song set of her own self-penned folk songs. It was great to hear someone writing such great, original material that was slightly away from the normal generic singer/songwriter style. Describing her sound is quite difficult, but if you imagine a young Joni Mitchell from rural Shropshire, you might be somewhere near…

Another young star Olly took to the stage next. With a revolving cast of fellow young musicians he led us through Maroon 5’s ‘Payphone’ and Steve Miller band’s ‘the Joker’. This young man has such a relaxed stage presence- one of those frustratingly talented people who makes it look a lot easier than it really is!

Richard Thomas returned to the stage with his reliable drummer and multi-instrumentalist, Remynie Faith. Together they delivered a great rocking set, climaxing with a fantastic homemade punk medley containing lashings of the Undertones and Blondie!

Remynie then stepped off the stage to perform a solo piano slot. Performing Lady Gaga’s ‘Papparazzi’, she proved she not only has the hair and boots but also the voice to match. Vocals, Guitar, drums, and piano… who knows what this multi-talented girl will bring along next week!

The triumphant return of Monkey sex change once again had the audience in fits of giggles. Martin and Sammy’s set consisted of Bongos, Leather Jackets, sunglasses and all round stage madness! Both talented musicians and songwriters, the audience shouted out for more, including several requests for Martin’s song ‘come on the floor’ a heart warming song about asking a girl for a dance... apparently.

The evening was rounded off nicely by two fine acoustic pairings. First up were Laurence Gale and Rob Bryon with a bluegrass tinged set of covers with Rob doing a great job on lead vocals.

Ed Young and Graham McCartney then finished off with some folk numbers with added Harmonica by Macca.

Another fun filled night at the navy with some great music to satisfy everyone’s taste. 

Cheap drinks and some fantastic live music. 
Come along and see what all the fuss is about! Tuesdays @ 8pm, Bellman’s Yard, Newport.