Managed a frosty five on Monday - boy were those hills chilled!
I love frosty morning runs, the steam pluming from my nostrils and later rising off my hunched, quaking shoulders. It's as close to a racehorse as I'm ever likely to get, figuratively and literally given my distrust of live horseflesh. The downs had their finest sequinned togs on, all sparkle and glitter in the weak wintry sun.
The run was a modest affair. I was still burdened with the aftermath of Meatfeast Sunday (rounded off
with a succulent beef joint I'm afraid); everything felt just the wrong side of heavy. Still, another five miles, fifth run in as many days and no sign of knee gah! or other worrying ailments. A day off today, partly due to my late night activities in darkest Barnes. I attended Nikki Lambourne's (insert kindly number here) birthday at the Bull's Head. My, what an array of talent was set before we lucky few!
I'll whizz through the performers - all this mind for twelve quid
and it's a
Young's pub - as I appreciate raving about a one-off gig might be a little annoying. Not as annoying as phoning SP with a live feed at around eleven pm, but still.
First up delightful new singer-songwriter Lottie Mullen. This wistful angel sang of love and betrayal, but mostly betrayal. Think Alanis Morisette without the razorblades. She has a dazzlingly bright future and I hope she grasps her opportunities with both hands.
Next the excellent
Elysium Divas (who'd appeared last time I saw NTB) with their
a capella rendition of *Effervescents'
Wake Me Up and a cracking operatic version of Aerosmith's
Don't Wanna Miss A Thing. Three gals - one Welsh, one English, one Kiwi - stunningly attractive, hugely talented, belting out thunderous harmonies in a very small jazz bar behind a pub. Wonderful.
And so to
Never The Bride. These guys are brilliant; gifted songwriters, unfairly talented musicians and as an ensemble simply intoxicating. They wrote for and performed with Dame Shirley Bassey
The Living Tree. The album got to number six in the charts and forged a life-long link between NTB and the Dame. The story goes NTB were in the same hotel as Birley, had just recorded the song and thought it might interest her. In true rock n roll fashion they, er, slipped a demo disc into her gym bag. Weeks later a phone call and the rest as they say . . .
Tonight they had a host of guests to join them on stage.
Stevie Vann Lange, perhaps best known for her glass-shattering vocal on the
Bodyform advert - Whoooooooooaah! Bodyform . . . - OK, suit yourselves - crashed straight into a heart wrangling song of such power and beauty that even the half-soused reprobates from South West London stopped chattering. After rapturous applaus Nikki annouonced that Stevie hadn't recorded the number - hard to believe; I can't imagine it wouldn't do extremely well.
YouTube clip to follow soon as I get a chance . . .
Not content with one historic rock chic next up was Rietta Austin. Rietta has played with a catalogue of talented artists over many years and has a four octave vocal range. I don't know what that means, but I can tell you the walls were shaking.
Never The Bride knocked our socks off between these powerhouse performances with a note-perfect 'unplugged' session. No less a rock diety than Roger Daltry said recently on hearing Nikki Lambourne sing 'the finest female rock vocal since Janis Joplin'
As the witching hour approached and the fastidious patron poised, stubby finger over the 'off' button, none other than
Richard O'Brien, author, songsmith and creator of the fabulous
Rocky Horror Picture Show (and erstwhile host of
Crystal Maze) jumped on stage for the tumultuous climax. Of course they did
The Timewarp (again); it was fantastic, truly a moment to savor. I got to shake the great man’s hand afterwards as he recovered in the bar. He is a charming man, quite brilliant and quite possibly insane. I recorded some of
Timewarp on my 'phone and will try to upload to YouTube when I get a chance - you lucky, lucky people.
Brilliant gig.
Never The Bride are back (though most likely with different support/ guests) at the same venue on 24th November.
I’ll be there, and I would urge others to try.
[SIZE="1"]* I
know it's Eminescence, I'm just wicked and I'm lazy :p[/SIZE]
