Call me unpatriotic, but I have actually enjoyed the World Cup more since England came home. I no longer have that knot of uncertainty before games, as I am really not too bothered who lifts the trophy. That said, my patriotism may well be questioned once again when I say that I have transferred my allegiance to Germany…..our biggest rivals over many years. We did live there for a number of years so I have always had them as my second team if (or more likely, when) England go out.
Once again, football on the telly had a real impact on the Newport
Open Mic attendance at the Navy Club in Bellman’s Yard, with a smaller
than usual crowd. That didn’t seem to matter too much though, as the
evening got underway with a lovely solo performance from Sand Kumar,
lead singer with the band Ricochet. I am more used to seeing Sand play
what I call ‘thrash rock’ but with just an acoustic his performance was
far more melancholy. Songs from John Lennon and The Libertines were very
nice indeed, but my favourite was a song recorded by Lulu of all
people, but originally written by David Bowie ……. a much better version.
There was more to come from Sand later, with his band, but it was a
lovely laid back opener.
One of our youngest members, 11 years old Jay Harris had not intended
to play but when he was offered the opportunity to try out my new
electro acoustic guitar, he could hardly refuse. Everyone remembers the
Jimi Hendrix recording of ‘All Along the Watchtower’ but Jay stuck much
closer to the original folky type version, written and recorded by Bob
Dylan, no less.
I must admit I like to see Laurence Gale up on stage. He is a great
supporter of live music in the town, made a big contribution to Newfest
and provides our pictures most weeks at the Open Mic. Once again with
borrowed guitar, he gave us a fine rendition of Jackson Browne’s ‘Naked
Ride Home’ before pleasing the Beatle’s fans in the audience with a nice
little medley. Lovely stuff.
Olly Flavell played a great set at Newfest on Saturday with his band, The Rivals, but it was a solo business as usual on Tues, just one man
and his guitar. Songs from Amy Winehouse and Boyzone are always nice to
listen to, done in Olly’s individual slightly jazzy style, but a great
new number caught my attention, ‘Loving You’. Originally recorded in
1975 by MInni Ripperton, it was initially a lullaby to her daughter
Maya, and is still getting radio play after nearly forty years.
We had already seen Sand Kumar of Ricochet opening the evening and he
was now joined on stage by the rest of the band. They are talented
songwriters and performers, evidenced by a strong new song ‘Machine’ but
they are clever enough to realise that it is sometimes useful to put a
couple of foot tapping covers into the set to provide variety. A couple
from Phil Collins and Maroon 5 did just that.
We don’t see Thom James in the club too often, but when we do see him
there is always something different from him. With his beautiful white
Gretsch he managed to mix Kate Bush with The Buzzcocks and even found a
small part for the instrumental, ‘Albatross’, his musical tribute to
Monty Python!Just time for one more act before the end and it was John Minor, unusually on guitar and not keyboards who brought the evening to a close, with a couple of classics from Oasis.
So still lots of football to come. Who will triumph….Europe or South America? There are four teams from each continent in the quarter finals tonight and tomorrow (Sat) but interestingly, no team from Europe has ever won the trophy in South America. Could it be about to change or will Brazil, who have won it in Europe, become the best team in the world on their own soil?
Whoever it is, it will be nice to welcome back all the footie fans into the Navy for our weekly music fix! Till next time, keep it live!
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