Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr..........

Despite below freezing temperatures it is always nice to know that when
you walk through the doors of the Navy Club in Newport Shropshire, 

you will be hit with a warm welcome and warm atmosphere.  

 

Even better, every Tuesday night, as well as the ambience of the environment 

there is always an evening of good music to sit back and enjoy or to participate in. 

 

With some new faces in the audience and some new names on the board last
Tuesday was no exception, and with the equipment set up and sound checked
by 7.45 we were ready to rock. 

 

The Dave Bluez Blues Band fronted by real blues man Dave Sandford was 

joined this week by regulars Olly Flavell, Andy Clarke and Rich Thomas, 

set the standard for the evening.

Great to see Darcy Crawford back on stage and even better to know that he is bound to be a regular at Open Mic now that he has moved to Newport and lives only a stone’s throw from the Club. As the coach at Boughey Gardens Tennis Courts he easily adapts from the strings of his tennis racket to the strings of his acoustic guitar and is a very accomplished self taught musician with a lovely voice ideally suiting his choice of songs starting with Candy by Paolo Nutini as well as numbers from Greenday
and Mumford and Sons first album.

 

 

14 year old Jobe was up on next, overcoming his shyness he managed to  play a couple of instrumentals, accompanied by Robbie and Jake, they made  for a talented trio . All that talent and still only havng a combined age of less than 45 years!!, good stuff fellas.

 

 

 

 

Following his earlier warm up slot Dave Bluez was back on stage accompanied by young Ben Pennington on saxophone for an outstanding blues jam once again with Andy C on bass and Rich T on drums. 

It is hard to believe that music of such calibre can be heard on a cold Tuesday night in a small market town. Class R & B that one would expect to hear in a smoke filled Ronnie Scott’s basement club in Soho.

Olly and Jake so much at home and relaxed at the Open Mic sessions brought us
next an excellent version of Valerie and the Bill Withers classic Ain’t No
Sunshine. 

 

By complete contrast they were followed by a solo set from Rich Thomas,
which if my ears didn’t deceive me, included a song about Spanish Bums
and the classic 80’s hit from Culture Club Karma Chameleon.

 

A new name on the board for the 10 o’clock slot was Shot Glass Heroes.  

A newly formed 5 piece band comprising of some familiar faces including  Ed Young and Jon Thompson on guitars and vocalist Ben Haynes from the Telford band Son of Zebedee. 

They covered some classic rock by The Kaiser Chiefs, Pulp, Oasis, Stereophonics and finishing with T Rex’s 20th Century Boy. 

A great tight set and the first but certainly not the last appearance from Shot Glass Heroes I suspect.

 

2 Pence Short brought Tuesday night to a close with Remynie on guitar and Ben Pennington on keyboards this time. Several people have remarked that Ben has an uncanny resemblance to keyboard player Ron Mael from the legendary 1970s American brothers band  Sparks, but there is definitely more of a twinkle in Ben’s eye than the sedentary scowl we remember from Ron! 

A great version of Greenday’s Time of Your Life and Remynie’s vocals on I’m Not a Vampire by Falling in Reverse were outstanding. 

The young pair were joined on stage by others for a great rendition of Lynyrd Skynrd’s Freebird which although didn’t quite stretch to 11 minutes
long brought the evening to a close, and sent us happily homeward with the
thought that we can have a another fix of "Live Music" at the same place, same time 

next week. 

 

Without doubt it was a great evening. Have YOU tried it yet. You should because 

indeed it is second to non, so put a note in your diary... Must visit THE NEWPORT 

OPEN MIC every Tuesday at 8pm at the Royal Naval Association, Bellman’s Yard, 

Newport.

Jude Paton