17th March and what better way to celebrate St Patrick's
Day with live music and a pint or two of the amber nectar at Newport
Open Mic at the Royal Naval Association. There perhaps wasn't a sea of
green unlike the Chicago River in Illinois which annually is dyed green
on this feast day but there was certainly a feast of great live music to
be heard.
Always great to see
Malcolm Purvis from Leeds calling in when work sends him to this neck
of the woods. He has high praise for Newport Open Mic and between visits
he is obviously busy penning new material and tonight was no exception
with new songs making great use of a harmony pedal and lovely harmonics
on the apocalyptic song "Black Sun".
Paddy's
Night brought a long overdue visit from Harry Woolley bringing tears to
our eyes with the Fureys "When You Were Sweet Sixteen". Sporting a
green Val Doonican jumper Robert Plant's and Alison Krauss's "Killing
the Blues" was followed by his signature song "Diggin' My Potatoes".
12
year old Jay Harris was up next with enthusiastic support from family
and friends in a crowd of well over 60. He has a wealth of songs under
his belt for one of such tender years and tonight, using an effects
pedal, he brought us songs from Geenday and The Killers.
John
Minor has been a loyal supporter of Newport Open over the past few
months and playing guitar peformed 2 songs by his favourite band Oasis.
Justin Hayward is currently touring with the Moody Blues so "Nights in
White Satin", his final song, went own really well.
STASH was the next name on the board and featured Steve Davis and Alex Ash and
comprising 3/5of Vinyl Tap with the addition of Jude and Remynie
"Mustang Sally" raised the volume both on and off he stage. Steve was
the left solo to go back to the Irish theme with a beautiful version of
Christie Moore's "Ride On".
18 year old Mitch Brooks from Lilleshall hushed the crowded room with a beautiful interpretation of Nirvana's "Come As You Are". Tom
Petty's "Free Fallin" had been done by STASH in the preceding set but
Mitch delighted us with his own version segued with Ed Sheeran's
"Thinking Out Loud". The Stereophonics "Dakota" was the perfect finish to an
excellent set from this talented young man and ensured that a large
crowd stayed for the finale of the evening.
And
so the finale to end the evening was an hour long set from Eddie and
the Shamrocks (for one night only at the Navy). Of course this was our
very own Ed Conway with his Unlawful Men followed by Lost The Plot. A
wealth of Irish songs had the audience clapping, stamping their feet and
joining in the choruses. Ant Kitchen on bodhran and Jon Thompson on
bass alongside Simon Carswell on piano and together with Ed take
traditional songs and deliver them in their own unique style. "Black
Velvet Band" is probably best known by The Dubliners and lesser known by
winger Tommy Bowe who sang his own version of it to a triumphant crowd
on the Ireland rugby team's homecoming in Dublin following their Grand
Slam win in 2009. I have to say The Unlawful Men's version was superb. A
change in the line up saw Paul Crewe on drums and Simon Mann on bass
and Lost the Plot materialised on stage. Fun and frolics ensued
with goldfish bowls, buckets of cold water and a wet puppy dog
flying across the room with the accompanying strains or "Belle of
Belfast City", "The Irish Rover" and Steve Earle's "Galway Girl". The
classic banjo picking scene from the 1972 film Deliverance has become a
well known tune but never before have I heard it played on bouzouki and
bass. A triumph indeed!!
Perhaps
not many Irish in the crowd apart from one person who hailed from
County Oakengates, but nonetheless a great night with a predominantly
Irish theme with great music, all things green, corned beef and cabbage
all washed down with a pint of Guinness.
And who knows........a chance for Ireland to win the Six Nation's Championship?........and so they did!!