~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nosey ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wonderful Van gig last night at Cheltenham, he'd just finished on a high with Behind the ritual and then into a great Healing Has Begun, walking off and returning (for the second time, I recall) to send us all home with a quite good version of Gloria. The band were happy and as relaxed as I'd ever seen 'em, in fact during one "solo" the keyboard player actually stopped playing and looked at Van jokingly then carried on playing. Sara Jory was as bubbly as she's ever been and the Cheltenham crowd warmed to her straight away. Still no Crawford Bell or Mick Green, but we did get a namecheck during Moondance for the 3 backup singers, Patti Revell, Karen Hammil and I'm sure Bobby said Vanessa Mayes (please excuse the spelling ladies), but that could be clarified later. I can honestly say that last nights band are just as tight as any Johnny Scott band (if not better), Okay I realise that there are many factors to take into consideration, setlists, different instruments, arrangements, all sorts of things. BUT, last nights band were (are) Good, in fact they've gelled into a VERY Good band indeed. They've got confidence, and all are really enjoying the moment, you can see it in their faces, the way the look at each other during the songs and they support each other after the little solos they get. They even comment to each other during the show, which usually brings a smile from the recipient. To me, this is wonderful to see, they're happy to be there and it shows in their demeanour and performance. I noticed a couple of things last night, one of the new backup singers Vanessa Mayes (?) has a really powerful voice, she gets to "screech" (wrong word, but nevermind) during Gloria, just like the backup singer does in that song by Pink Floyd, and trust me, you can hear her over the band when Van's left the stage and they crank it up, shes a great addition. Last night Van spoke, something to the effect of "This is where I get to hide behind my guitar", apparently he was joking, but as nobody laughed, he repeated it, still no laughter. Now, that WAS funny. He also picked up the ukelele and said, "This part is George Formby's greatest Hits" (or as near as dammit), that DID get a laugh.
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