LANDERMASON AUTUMN TOUR
PART 1
We just love touring…and because we spend almost as long setting up the tours as actually doing them, we try to make the most of every single day on the road. People often say to us…why don’t you get a camper van? But half the fun of touring is meeting new people, staying over after the gig and sharing stories! Being club organisers ourselves www.baaclub.co.uk we find this extra time valuable for exchanging info about venues and musicians, not to mention audiences!
So with a fully loaded van…PA, lights, piano, 2 guitars, 2 saxophones, clarinet, whistles, suitcase drum, camping gear, CD’s, clothes and a dog, we’re all set! Obviously long stretches on the road can’t be avoided when you live as far north as ....Bellingham.... in Northumberland, but being totally in control of your own tour means you can build in the odd day off at a campsite or a friends house. (It’s surprising how much we see of our distant relatives these days!) In fact we make very useful couriers for the family when Christmas approaches!
So what about the gigs….well 6 out of the 8 venues didn’t even require our PA, but seeing as the last 2 did…we still had to lug it all round the country. ....Wales.... Millennium Centre (the Glanfa Stage)…is one of my personal favourite venues, it has great acoustics for the wind instruments but is not so great for guitar. There’s a guaranteed audience every time (as the concert is free to the general public). There’s a top notch Steinway Grand piano for me to play too! Hey what could be better? This time round we were lucky enough to warm up a huge crowd just before a performance of ‘The Sound of Music’ starring Connie Fisher!
Next stop Broadmayne Village Hall, ..Dorchester.. (the home of the Sunray Folk Club).Wonderful natural acoustics and a warm welcome. Our mix of material went down well with the regulars. We sold the very first few copies of our new album ‘Tree of Souls’ here, so quite a special night for us. To top it all, the evening was recorded beautifully, so we now have a lovely memory of our visit.
After some well deserved quality time off at with Sweep (our border collie) at Eweleze Farm, nr Weymouth www.eweleaze.co.uk we headed up to Lincolnshire for a Craft Festival in Alford then onto Norwich for a charity 1 day Festival at The Brickmakers. This is essentially a rock venue but for 1 day a year, all types of musicians are invited to take part. I think there were 35 different acts over the course of the day and around 850 people through the door! We were well placed outside in the acoustic tent along with all the other song writing acts. I’ve just heard that over £2000 was raised for the local school! Both these festivals were brilliantly organised and clearly well supported by the locals. Great to see!
Up to the ..North Norfolk.. coast for another campsite stop and a relaxing walk along the beach at ....Holkham.. ..Bay.... prepared us well for our next 3 gigs. Spalding and Wivenhoe Folk Clubs were both quite quiet nights, with audience numbers down. Possibly post Bank Holiday blues…schools back??? Who knows? Despite all this, we enjoyed both evenings very much and sold a healthy number of CD’s at both!!!
Our final 2 gigs were in small theatres. The Quay Theatre in ....Sudbury...., ....Suffolk.... was the chosen venue for the launch of our new album ‘down south’. It was great to see so many familiar faces there, as well as a good few new ones too! Local singer song writer Al Linsday opened the night for us with a lovely set. www.al-lindsay.co.uk
Our last stop on this leg was the Rosehill Theatre in Whitehaven. Our performance was the final event over the weekend of 50th Birthday Celebrations. Nigel Kennedy played the night before! Both venues are wonderfully intimate and a treat to perform at.
Off to get the van looked at…got a rattling exhaust and we drive to ....London.... tomorrow!!
Looking forward to gigs in Hampshire, Bedfordshire, ..Yorkshire.., ....Cambridge.... and ....Kent.... on the 2nd leg. Maybe see you there!