Plug & Play, Penrith - 2nd December 2007
admin January 7th, 2008
An almost full house turned up for the December instalment of PnP, with local singer/songwriterJonathan Trengrove in his incarnation as Dr Glam headlining, and enough open slot performers to have Tom, Chris and Andy from the PnP crew kept busy moving people off and on stage and keeping things running smoothly. The show was kicked off as ever with the open slot and first up was Low Fat Lilly from Carlisle, making their PnP debut. Consisting of Lisa, Billy, Andrew and Dave they launched straight into “Flowers in the rain”, following swiftly with the Leonard Cohen hit “Diamonds in the mine”. Lisa’s voice grabbed the songs with feeling and intensity and allowed Billy to harmonise seamlessly. A traditional styled “Daniel O’Callaghan” followed with “Black Horse and the cherry tree” finishing off a confident and upbeat first outing at Penrith. Next on stage was 12 year old Ethan Thomas playing guitar and singing self penned songs as well as covers. Its excellent to see people of this age getting on stage and playing with confidence and enjoyment. This is the future of music and should be cheered and roared on. The self penned laid back blues “Hitch hiker” had the audience immediately engrossed in his playing and singing. “Hit ‘em hard with the first song” they say, “Yeh, great, then what?” Well, some finger picking reminiscent of Lindsey Buckingham is what came next!! “National Service” and “Beautiful Voice” played on slide guitar had the audience calling Ethan back on stage for an encore. “Stairway to Heaven” is a song most guitarists play in the shop when trying out a new guitar or in the bedroom for there own satisfaction. Not Ethan…slightly nervous from the encore call causing a few fluttering fingers, played with determination and courage which was great to see and hear. Look out for him in the future! Steve Cumberland then took to the stage, nicely finger picking through a song about a love affair with an old motorbike. “Vincent Black Lightening 1952”. Moonshine Daddies came next, a good old Rock ‘n’ Roll band and with a-poppin-an-a-slappin’ double bass, Nashville electric guitar and some serious foot tapping stuff, the audience showing enjoyment throughout “That’s alright Mama”, “Hound Dog”, “Stray Cat Strut” and “C’mon’ everybody” and encoring with “Mystery Train”. Rob Heron was next up with a new Marvin Gaye inspired song “7 day week” followed by “Introspection” and “Answers” Rob finished off with another song I hadn’t heard before “Hopp Sång”. Last up for the open slot, also making his PnP debut, was Greg Wilson. Singing and playing the self penned numbers “Till I found you”, “So far beyond emotion”, “Something like this” and “Johnnie” again, showing the high level of performers at the PnP. A short interlude then allowed Tom and Chris to set the stage for the eagerly awaited main act, Dr Glam. “Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to Maddison Square Gardens, . . . Penrith!” isn’t how you would expect Andy to announce a band at PnP, but the audience was up for it. Cheering from the off through the crowd grabbing opener “You’re the one” and into “Trapped” the PnP crowd were having a ball! Going into the Reggae/Ska styled “Heartbrand” which morphed into Britpop and back to Reggae/Ska finished the “Bang! we’re here” start of the set. Jonathan then went onto acoustic guitar causing a short interlude for tuning etc. There were times during the gig that it seemed Jonathan could have engaged with the audience a bit more as the gaps between some songs were a bit long due to instrument change, tuning etc. This gap, however, was filled with an impromptu bass/drums solo spot by Mark and Jamie before Jonathan was up at the mic, ready for the next bit. All of the songs played this evening including “Low Feel High”, “Uncertain Times”, “California Girl” were new songs written for this event but you wouldn’t think it listening to them being played as if they had been part of the repertoire for ages. The entire audience at PnP was silent throughout as powerful vocals echoed around the room with an understated but beautifully effective piano accompaniment. Not until the final chord had eventually died away did the audience explode into applause and cheers for a great gig. See you all on the 6th January for the next session. Check out the Plug & Play website for details of upcoming gigs. HYPERLINK “http://www.plug-play.co.uk” www.plug-play.co.uk. Hiccy new year!! “Open Mike”
Jonathan played piano on “Caught in the rain” and “Captive” which not only showed his musical abilities off brilliantly but also highlighted something which I hadn’t noticed prior to this point. When there was an instrumental break with piano there was the melody as well as some backing to fill out the sound. When the song was being played on guitar, either there wasn’t a solo and just rhythm or there was a solo and not a lot of filling (There’s only a certain amount you can fill out on a bass!) A second guitarist? Don’t know. This isn’t a criticism in any way, just my point of view. “Save your soul” and Strength Song” finished off the electric set withJonathan going back to piano for a solo piece “If Only” to round off a great gig in front of a very enthusiastic audience. An “Unscripted Encore Moment” as it would probably be called on MTV, had Jonathan back on piano playing the extremely moving “Born for Free”.