It was anarchy!


Summer is a tricky time for the Open Music Collective being bang in the middle of the holiday season and numbers were very small. The first year PP (Post Paddy) we decided not to do anything and a couple of people who hadn't got the message turned up and had a mini session. After that, the only night off we took was the one closest to New Year's Eve.
The August Anarchy night came about
because a wedding. To be more precise, a family wedding, and that meant for the first time since taking over from Paddy at The George, Shirley and I were going to miss a night. Ross ‘never again’ Williams stood in on the condition that it was a punk night, possibly thinking I would decline. I didn't, and it was a great evening. This was its third year. 

George opened with Sham 69's Hurry Up Harry in a gentle and melodic style, nothing like the original. This was followed by a bit of The Beatles; we don't get enough Beatles at the Open Music Nights. The song in question, also performed in a different style to the original, was an angry, shouty, 'Let It Be' interspersed with timely "Oi,oi oi!"s.

Audience feedback was mixed, with one attendee commenting "You killed that song!"; possibly not meant in a good way. 

George's second bite at the evening's cherry was more familiar material. The Waterboys' 'Fisherman's Blues' and his own composition 'Caffeine, Nicotine and Old Jim bean' before being joined by Kristy for a repeat performance of Bob Dylan's 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' that we'd played the month before.

 Marion, Pete and Neil

A major part of The Clifftones, not because of their large repertoire of Cliff Richard material; nothing wrong with that, but because they make up a significant part of a band based in Clifton; and Pete hosts a lovely jam session at The Bull. Their contribution to The Anarchy Night was Pulp's 'Common People'. Does that qualify as punk though? Well, formed in 1978 in Sheffield they certainly would have been part of the scene if anyone had heard of them at the time. This was followed by the anarchic 'Revolution' and then by Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick In the Wall'

"I've never hear Another Brick In The Wall played on a banjo before." said someone at the bar. "It sounds really good."


Dave and Mike
The first surprise and delight feature of the evening was Dave and Mike. While they looked suspiciously like Tom Jones and Rod Stewart they gave an accomplished performance of The Jam's 'That's Entertainment'. They then launched into The Clash's 'I fought The Law'. MDF's sigh of relief that they hadn't got that one on their set radar this evening could be heard throughout the pub; and very good it was too. Their set was finished by an alternative version of Bread's 'Wanna Make It With You'. It looked as though Dave enjoyed the extra hair as well as letting rip with the power chords.



Derrick and Alex henceforth known as The Midnight Brothers

Derrick and Alex are now a gigging item, so they were well up for some extra songs and were awesome. Not only was there some well executed technical wizardry but close harmonies to die for. This pair are going to be very busy. Amongst others, they sang:

Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs Robinson; not very anarchic unless you remembered The Lemonheads' version. But when you sing like this pair, original is definitely best.
The Righteous Brothers' 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling' and the theme from Friends,
'The Rembrandts', 'I'll Be There For You'.
Crying In The Rain The Everly Brothers.
Derrick is hosting an open mic at The Wheatsheaf, Crick, on Sunday 18th August and has been booked with Alex to play The Arnold Arms towards the end of the month.
They played more in the second half but my pen had retired for the night and my writing hand was occupied by a pint glass.

The Misfits, or Miss Fits, Kristy and Amie
Still very new to The Open Music Collective, Kristy and Amie were the second surprise and delight feature of the night having thoroughly entered into the spirit of the evening. The only regrettable aspect of their performance was that it wasn't longer.
Alanis Morrisette's One Hand In My Pocket
The Kinks All Day and All of The Night
They finished their set with an acapella 'I Wish I'd Been A Pun Rocker With Flowers In My Hair'



MDF

MDF were convinced that The Undertones Teenage Kicks and The Clash's I Fought The Law would feature somewhere in the evening so instead went for The Clash's 'Career Opportunities' and The Undertones' 'Get Over You' instead. Tracey was unleashed for the second year in a row with Blondie's 'One Way Or Another'. It went a bit awry at the end, but she smashed it at Ian's retirement party a week or so later.





Because we were less busy than usual I got to do a bit of socialising and beer drinking, so I didn't capture all that happened in the second half. Sorry!

For all that, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Next: George's Birthday Bash, as The Open Music Collective moves in to the final quarter of 2019.



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