Mount the Air

Last night I was in Yeovil , at the Octagon Theatre to see the wonderful Unthanks. The Unthanks are (Currently) a ten piece folk group who fuse traditional Northumbrian folk with other genres to make haunting and melancholic tunes and who are fronted by the clog dancing sisters Becky and Rachel Unthank.
The tour is to promote their latest album (their 8th) 'Mount the Air' which has been two years in the making

 and is currently receiving great reviews whilst maintaining a top twenty position in the Indies Chart.
The evening started with an accordion playing support act who played two songs at the start of  the first and second sets before the main event began. The sets were a mixture of the new album and old favourites.
A great evening ended with a three song encore which included the amazing 'Lucky Gilchrist' complete with clog dancing from Becky and Rachel, from the 'Here's the Tender Coming' album and the title track from the album 'Last'.
With influences such as Robert Wyatt and King Crimson to name only two its no wonder the their music has a distinctly 'Prog' feel and why it appeals to me so much. Cant wait to catch them again.

The Things We Do........

Yesterday myself and three of the usual suspects headed off to Bristol to see 70's pop legends 10CC at the Colston Hall. We set off around 4:30pm with the intention of visiting a couple of Bristol's best hostelry's as well.
We arrived around 6pm and made straight for The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer in King Street.

Nicknamed the 'Volly' and housed in a 17th century building it offers a wide range of cask and 'craft keg' ales.

I started with a Moor Brewery 'Smokey Horyzon' at 5% from the 'craft keg' range and although it was served way too cold for my liking it was a great starter with its smoked rye taste.
Next I wanted to try the Siren, 7 Seas IPA but it had just finished so I plumped for a Hammerton's 'N7'  which was a citrusy 5.2% Pale Ale with malt overtones.
We then decided to move next door to the Beer Emporium. This is a 'gastro' pub housed beneath an unassuming frontage in the vaulted cellars and offering a wide range of craft beers and bottled ales.

This time I went for a Springhead Brewery 'Drop O' the Black Stuff' at 4.0% and as the pump clip advertised was a smooth dark and easy drinking porter with a roasted barley aftertaste.
Now it was time for the main event and we headed back to the Colston Hall in time for the 7:30pm start.
The band went straight into The Wall Street Shuffle which is track one from their 1974 album 'Sheet Music' and which was to make up the first half of the gig.

They then proceeded to play through the rest of the album including a 'guest' appearance from Kevin Godley on the big screen singing to Somewhere in Hollywood.
I made a quick exit before the last song on the album to head for the bar and order our interval drinks, which was a good move because before long the bar was 'rammed' with people waiting to get served.
The band began the second half with The Things we do for Love before playing most of their hits from the 70's and early 80's finishing with Dreadlock Holiday.
The customary encore was a great accapella version of Donna before a rousing rendition of Rubber Bullets had the crowd on their feet.
A great night out and another ambition realised.

Set List.
1. The Wall Street Shuffle
2. The Worst Band in the World
3. Hotel
4. Old Wild Men
5. Clockwork Creep
6. Silly Love
7. Somewhere in Hollywood
8. Baron Samedi
9. The Sacro-Illiac
10. Oh Effendi
11. The Things we do for Love
12. Good Morning Judge
13. I'm Mandy Fly Me
14. Life is a Minestrone
15. Art for Art's Sake
16. Feel the Benefit
17. The Dean and I
18. I'm Not in Love
19. Dreadlock Holiday
20. Donna
21. Rubber Bullets

Patch Birding.

This morning I spent an hour at my local patch, Chard Quarry . The East lake was partially frozen over but still held an impressive count of 85 Canada Geese, 11 Coot, 24 Teal, 7 Shoveler and 7 Tufted Duck.
Over on the West lake there was a single Common Gull with the small flock of Herring Gulls.
A walk around the reserve produced the usual species such as Great, Blue and Long-Tailed Tits, Bullfinch and Jay. I also had a flyover Sparrowhawk and then a short while later a patch tick for me with a Peregrine Falcon that unfortunately didn't linger.

After the Dawn

On Friday I headed over to the Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre in Taunton for an evening of exceptional tribute music with the wonderful Cloudbusting.

Fronted by the captivating Mandy Watson as our 'Kate' the band performed over two hours of great Kate Bush tracks from all of her albums starting with the atmospheric 'Under Ice' from Hounds of Love and then delighting the audience with classics such as Wow, Sat in your Lap, Babooshka, Hounds of Love, Big Sky, This Women's work and The Man with the Child in his Eyes amongst others.
The evening was completed with a rousing encore of Running up that Hill and of course Cloudbusting.
A terrific evenings entertainment and when they tour this way again I'll be first in the queue !

http://www.cloudbustingkatebushtribute.com