Report: Jude Paton

Photography: Laurence Gale (photos of Dan Walton, Dylan Wynford and Mike Collins)

To mark the 50th anniversary of when Elvis met the Beatles at his home in 1965 Radio 2 put out a Bank Holiday Monday top 50 of Beatles vs Elvis record releases based on all time sales.

The Elvis countdown was "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" at No.3, at 2 "Jailhouse Rock" and at No. 1 "It's Now or Never (O Sole Mio)". "Suspicious Minds"only came in at number 12 in the Top 50 highest selling Elvis singles but was his 18th and last number one hit in 1969. I am not the biggest Elvis fan but there is a great cover version of this single by Erik Hassle, and Fine Young Cannibals is pretty good too....check it out.

From our own home grown talent, The Beatles Top 3 is "Can't Buy Me Love" at No. 3 and when it entered the US charts in 1964, the entire top 5 were Beatles songs. With a million advanced copies ordered and at No. 2 is "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and The Beatles first No 1 hit in the U.S. No surprises really, the biggest all time selling record for The Beatles is "She Loves You"lasting all of 2 minutes 18 seconds and the best selling single of the sixties only to be surpassed by "Mull of Kintyre" by Wings released in 1977 and selling over 2,000,000 copies. 

Unusually for an Open Mic night there was not a single Elvis or Beatles cover performed on Tuesday and the evening turned out to be devoted to male solo acoustic performers. Gentle and quite delightful on a wet September night. Young Dan Walton followed by Dylan Wynford got the evening underway with a couple of songs each, a good choice from Dan with Pinball Wizard and a week before his 20th birthday a lesser known song by the Courteeners "Not Nineteen Forever" was an excellent and appropriate choice by Dylan.

Mike Collins from Perton has, on recent visits to Open Mic, been accompanied by his son on  bass but tonight did a solo performance which included 2 songs by The Stereophonics, recent headliners at V Fest. Crowd pleasers at V and certainly  Mike was a crowd pleaser at Open Mic.

Dylan Wynford will shortly be returning to University in London where he is studying Musical Theatre and is proving to be a prolific songwriter. Having released an eleven track album"The Funniest Night of My Short, Beautiful Life"  in July he has already got 4 tracks lined up for a forthcoming EP "It Rarely Happens So". Nice to have a sneak preview on Tuesday and not only a great talent but a great voice. Good luck Dylan with your studies and your music.

It's good that so many young people who have cut their teeth on the Open Mic stage come back to visit during University holidays and like Dylan, Dan Walton has not forgotten us. Studying popular music at Cheltenham, Dan has previously played with his band Blue Tuesdays and is alsoan accomplished solo performer. A great choice of songs included "We're Going to be Friends" by White Stripes and then back to 1967 with a Kinks classic "Waterloo Sunset". Listen to Dan on soundcloud with the track "Wandering Man" by Cambio Music. Another great young talent in our midst.

Richard Heywood, another 19 year old, and Open Mic regular, brings new songs to the stage most weeks. His guitar style is delightful and 2 new songs this week were "Doolin-Dalton" from the lovely Eagles album Desperado and a new one for me "Lovers on the Sun" by French music producer David Guetta.

Last, but by no means least, a long overdue visit from Wolverhampton man, Steve Reynolds. A true romantic at heart I am guessing with Paul Weller's "You Do Something to Me", "Fall at Your Feet" and Madness "It Must Be Love" finishing with Adele's "Make You Feel My love". Not a dry eye in the house and a quivering bottom lip from his lady in the audience!

So no Beatles, no Elvis but a splendid night of live music at the Royal Naval Association in Bellmans Yard in Newport. All types of music catered for, from solo performers to full band set up every Tuesday from 8pm.