I was getting a bit twitchy as neither artist had arrived yet. Only being 4 gigs old (1 gig is worth 1 human year & therefore that makes us 28 in dog years) this was the first time I had the feeling everything might not always go to plan.
I had visions of returning everyones money & forcing them to listen to me for an hour and a half. Thankfully as the haze cleared Darren & Little Rach appeared and all was right with the world. Little Rach had suffered the wrath of the M6 & Darren had been chasing The Hound of the Baskervilles, panic over, phew!!
After a small assault on peoples ears by moi it was time to introduce Little Rach.
We knew Little Rach was going to be ace because we were holding her biscuits hostage until the set was over...
As soon as the first strums floated from the front I was smiling. Little Rach had started playing a very original take on 'You're the one that I want' , yep the Grease tune but you've never heard it like this before. The beautifully simple sound was the perfect way to shake hands with the audience and meet on common ground. Once the pleasantries were over though it was time to follow Little Rach into her quirky, infectious, fun filled world. The percussive guitar style and soft but strong vocal is totally captivating and had me grinning from ear to ear again as I clapped, sang, stomped along to the songs and it seemed everyone else in the room felt exactly the same. All too soon the short guest set was over but Little Rach had definitely left everyone wanting more. Thankfully the little ball of light that is Little Rach is coming back to light up the Shop Sessions in September where she will be performing the longer featured spot and we really really can't wait....
Biscuits earned and devoured & consequently the biscuit box became a percussion instrument :)
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Refreshed and refuelled we were all ready for the return of the very superb Darren Poyzer.
Immediately you could feel him working his magic creating a connection with the audience getting everyone on his side before he'd played a single note. Having seen Darren play for a 2nd time I could really see that what goes on in between the songs is almost as important as the music itself. The back stories make great listening and the fact that the songs are great is like the icing on the cake. I found myself engrossed in the songs listening to every word as the story unfolds in front of me. I know I've said this before in this blog but again I just felt the physical response of a big smile as I stood happy and content and looking around I could see it was just a sea (well maybe a pond, it's a small gig) of smiles. 'The End Of The News Of The World' was a great satirical take on the REM tune 'It's The End Of The World' fully backed up by inhaler just in case as there was no time for breathing through the fast paced performance, just brilliant. Darren encouraged the audience to pick from two options for an encore and finished on one of my favourite songs Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol) with everyone joining in. A magical finish to a magical night.
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You know there are those moments you wish you could bottle and just keep with you so you can take another sip this was one of those moments.... I was left on a musical high from the very wonderful Little Rach & Darren Poyzer, I suggest you go find where they're playing quick and take a bottle so you can capture some of their magic :)
To get yourself a copy of the totally ace new album from little Rach or to find out where you can see her live go to...
http://www.littlerachmusic.com/home
To check out Darren's latest multi media project 'War to End all Wars' or to find out about gigs you can find all the info here...
http://www.poyzer.com/
To find out who is playing next and how you get tickets for our wonderful Shop Sessions..
http://www.thecyclejunction.com/blog/?page_id=1447
