Last night we had a fantastic time again at Centre Stage in Bournemouth - a hell of a venue that is also a regular haunt of a Mr Pete Christie.
Pete Christie is an exceptional singer-songwriter/guitarist that I have written about often in previous blogs - he has also become a good friend and it was our privilege to return to his "Pete Christie and friends" billing.
It's a unique night, the Pete Christie and friends night - he hosts the night and brings people on with him at various points - with those people doing their spots in between. It's a great system, that suits Pete's benevolent personality.
We kicked off with Freedom, accompanied by our host riffing our what we were doing - and singing loads too this time (we had done it in Petersfield) - Pete's sang lead vocals on a 1st verse reprise that was a lovely bit of spontaneous "zoning". Thanks Pete for suggesting we start with that one.
Then, for the rest of the set, we played:
Where will it lead
I'm One
Sisyphus
Lives in the Balance
World Turned Upside Down
Ghost
This set featured the first time we ever played the Who song, "I'm One" together - I had done it on my own, but we had never done it together before - plus we had only played "Sisyphus" two other times and "Lives in the balance" only once before.
Loved the spot, and are massively grateful for the spot.  Pete began his spot with a characteristically powerful version of "Waiting the night away".
Through the night, Pete played many of his great Christie standards, including a beautful version of "Not Dark Yet" where Aimee Newsome Stone joined him for a sweet high harmony. Really lovely version.
Pete also gave us a lovely duet version of "Normal Shade of Blue" with Aimee.
"Shattered" was aired again - a song that completely stuns me every time - just absolutely amazing song - and performance.
"Square Peg" (I think it's called) was played tonight - a song that Pete doesn't play as often - this was a steamroller of a monster that I hope I will keep hearing at Pete's gigs - cracking song with bags of passion.
Lou Brown joined Pete onstage to play some of her songs with Pete. This was as good as expected - she played lots of new songs - and we had seen her before when we played last year's Pete Christie and Friends night - Lou showcased a few of the songs that will feature on the album she's just finishing now. They were great songs and Lou ALWAYS sings like she means it - her performances are always completely captivating - and she's got a very personal take on melody that runs through her songwriting. Brilliant stuff.
There were a few moments in this section of the night too where Pete, Lou and Aimee sang some knockout three part harmonies that made you want the song to keep going forever.
The other performer that shared the stage with Pete this night was Andy Stone - the guy responsible for providing the kind of sound quality that leaves every other gig you do at an unfortunate disadvantage. Andy sang a song with Pete and Aimee that was written by Bob Whitley - and sang it like the song was his, a fierce anti-war song that spat at the futility of conflict. Great performance from Andy here - obviously not just an amazing sound technician.
As the night drew to a close, Pete invited us back onstage to finish the night with a song we hadn't ever done before together America's "Horse with no name" - so we didn't have a firm structure at all - but that lack of structure produced some magical moments.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNQsjJAsDTo
It lovely bookending the evening - and the quality of the music all night was really high - as expected.....
Strongly recommend everyone that played tonight....going to Centre Stage always brings a quality night - this one had that extra meeting up with good friends vibe to it too. Classic.
Thanks a million to Pete for asking us to join him again...
 



See ya next time...
Gareth
xx