Last Thursday was the latest edition of Totally Acoustic, this time featuring Mr P Buckley Hill and Mr J Osborne. I'd thought it might be a bit quiet, as a) it was the night before the Easter Bank Holiday and b) people would probably be at home watching The Leaders Debate on telly... and I was quite right!
The acts both arrived nice and early, just after I'd got the seats set out (Steve wasn't even there, THAT'S how quiet it was, so I had to do the tables and chairs myself! Shocking!) and by 7:30pm we'd got just sufficient audience to outnumber performaners! We kicked off, and had a thoroughly pleasant time. I did a few songs and then the legend that is PBH got up and did his anti-pre-penultimate gig. Foolishly I thought this meant he had two more to go before retirement, but maybe it's three? Anyway, he played the room as if it was PACKED and we responded accordingly. Even the chap who I think is the father of the owner (and maybe the previous owner?) of the pub who usually sits downstairs came in to watch, which felt like a HUGE honour, and he enjoyed PBH hugely!
After the break John Osborne did a set of his brilliant poems. It was ACE. I feel I should give more REVIEW than that, but that pretty much says it all - it was moving and funny and charming and, well, ACE. The only way I felt it could have been improved would have been if a young GTR TOTING lad with a funny haircut and 10 tonnes of JANGLE had rolled up and asked him to join his Manchester based indie band. In the 1980s. With gladioli.
After that everyone went downstairs for a PINT - it was a shame more people hadn't been there to enjoy the show but it did mean that the whole audience could join the performers around a table for a BEER and a YACK before heading out once more into the night. The next show's on May 7th, and hopefully we'll have a bigger crowd - I don't think anything political's on the telly that night, is there?
