August Bank Holiday

We had a busy weekend........... Friday night saw us at The Dalesman in Leeds; near Kirkham Abbey to be exact and we played to a very enthusiastic and warm audience. You know when you can't put a foot wrong and I loved being told by more than one person that we were great - we'll be going back there for sure. The kebab on the way home was good as well!

The Amplifires went unlugged on Saturday - represented by myself and Sharon - at the first open mic night at The Bell Inn, Cromford which we hosted. We were joined by our erstwhile drummer and great mate Ted on random percussion and self-appointed Master of Ceremonies. The small room at The Bell was packed to overflowing by enthusiastic audience and musicians, there being no shortage of people to play, sing and clap. Thanks go out to Steve Hexter, Dave Redfearn and friend (sorry can't remember her name), Andy Carr and Chris, Andrea, Greg, and the Clancy clan - Clancy himself and Jez. It was a great success with ego's parked outside on North Street. Let's hope the next one on Saturday 4th of September is as successful.

Sunday saw Ted and myself rigging and running a PA on Matlaock's Ley Hall park bandstand for the Dale Divas, the women only chorus that recently beat all comers on Channel Five. It nearly didn't happen it was raining so hard, but the sun came out, dried everything out but we battled with strong winds. Nonetheless the ladies pulled a good crowd of around 300 people.

Monday was an early start as we were not only playing at the first beer festival at the White Hart in Calow but providing the PA for the other bands - suckers for punishment. David, Ted and myself started at 10:00 and arrived around 11:00 to set up the 'big' PA outside. The sun shone and it augered well for a good day. The other bands - hi Soapstone Dragons and Highly Strung - turned up with their equipment to share and we all got on famously. But what is it that makes grown men act like children, and not in a good way. The band who were up third and wanted to be on last as they are 'the biggest and best band in Chesterfield' showed up, were offered the 'headline' slot but declined in a sulk, insisted on using their mini-pub PA that sounded like a Fisher Price toy, their own drum kit, amps etc, disrupted the event and endeavoured to ensure that our 6:30 start was put back to 7:30 - they managed to take 3 and a half hours to set up, get off and 'entertain' the audience with what they do best (and they do it extremely well) - great arrangements of lift music. These cheeky monkeys even claimed that they had written a couple of The Beatles songs that they played. Ah well, you have to take the rough with the smooth. We played a storming set that had most of the audience up and dancing - excellent compared to the 4 or 5 dancing to the previous band and although we didn't actually sign any autographs we were over-whelmed by the plaudits from the landlord Simon, members of the audience and the other bands. That more than makes up for the confrontational, chip on the shoulder attitude of the elderly never have beens and never will be's who were on before us. What capped it though was a comment that was repeated by several people - "You were great, you played real music and it was exciting" So not lift music then? At that moment I decided that life can indeed be sweet.................................

Steve