Glasgow Open Mic Nights: March 2008

Sunday, 30 March 2008

Wednesday 26th March 2008, Clutha Vaults

Sandy's Open Mic

I was a little late arriving , however Frank was the first guest on stage playing an instrumental followed by a Neil Young song 'Only Love'.

Next up was Bob Leslie with two of his newer songs, bothe of which were well received - 'Smell the roses' and 'Snake Oil'.

Andy Lindsay then took to the stage and performed 'Cry me a River'

and then One night with you'.

which had a few folk up dancing! [Izzy & Andy ]

Aaron Hewitt was through from the east coast, and he sang a couple of songs - 'Days aren't long enough' and 'Fulsom Prison Blues'.

Next on stage was an excellent young blues player, John Alexander, singing 'No place to go' and then 'I only want to know about Love'.

Stuart workman followed him with a couple of classics 'Mis-understood' and 'Cocaine'.

Sandy then got up and said that the next song was a tribute to Joseph Durkin, who died of cancer in 2004, but who had been a great supporter of Sandy's Open Mics, and a brilliant musician. He then sang 'Room Service' a favourite of Joe's.

Jer McDade then went onstage and performed a couple of his own songs 'Mr Vaughn' and then 'In the 80's'.

Sandy then got Elspeth Durkin [Joseph's widow] up to sing a couple of songs - 'Autumn Leaves'with Bob Leslie on guitar and then a duet with Bob of his song - 'Different Worlds'.

Izzy was next to perform, with Andy Logan on guitar, singing 'Its a sin to tell a lie'

followed by the ever popular -' I want a hug'!

Stevie Osbourne had appeared in the doors this evening [ having been working away from town for a while] and he did 'Eastender Blues'

with Bob on guitar.

Joe MacAtamany then did 'Fancy Free' and 'The Galloway Hills',

before Willie Mathews finished the evening off with the old Animals classic- 'House of the Rising Sun'

before ending with a Reggae medley starting and ending with 'No Woman No Cry',

with the help of almost the entire audience!! This ended the formal session, but as usual a short jam session in the audience followed, whilst the equipment was put away.

Tuesday, 25 March 2008

Monday 24th March 2008 Easter Monday!

The Clutha was quietish, this evening - possibly the result of it being the Easter weekend, and people away in different parts of the country for holidays??

Bob was valiant and performed several songs, to keep the mood going for the evening. He started with ‘Mr Bojangles’ followed by ‘ My old friend the Blues’, ‘The Thrill is gone’, ‘Caledonia’ and then a Sandy Denny song ‘Who knows where the time goes?’ followed by two requests from the audience ‘ Me and Bobby McGee’ and ‘Fulsom Prison Blues’ . He then sang the classic ‘Tracks of my tears’ before asking Elspeth Durkin up to sing ‘Dixie Chicken’ with him. She then sang ‘Autumn Leaves’ and ‘After the Goldrush’.

Bob then continued with ‘Handbags and Gladrags’, ‘Halleluiah’, ‘Heatwave’, ‘My Girl’ and ‘The Mighty Quinn’. After a short break he then got Izzy [from Theatre Nemo] up to sing a couple of songs ‘You made me love you’ with Bob accompanying her on guitar ,

and then 'The Spinning Wheel’.

Bob then sang ‘Deportee’ before getting Elspeth back up to sing ‘Fields of Gold’ and ‘Jolene’. Joe MacAtamany had arrived by this time, and he obliged us with ‘Fancy Free’ and then ‘Ride On’ and ‘Up the Northern Water’.

Bob and Elspeth then sang a couple of duets ‘ Love Hurts’ and then ‘Different Worlds’ before finishing the evening with Elspeth singing backing vocals on ‘Gloria’, ‘You keep me hanging on’ and finally ‘You’re as drunk as me!’

Wednesday 19th March 2008

Sorry missed this evening’s action - if anyone has a review of it - let me know and I’ll stick it in here!!

17th March 2008 St Patrick’s Day!

Arrived late and Bob was on stage.

He had just been asked by a woman in the audience for “an Irish Song” and he sang ‘she moves through the fair’ which he said was the only Irish number he knew. He got Ronnie Simpson up to sing ‘the Green fields of France’ next,

followed by Ian Adie who sang his song ‘William Wallace’ [ despite more cries from the woman for “an Irish song“!]

Bob then got Elspeth Durkin up to sing Autumn Leaves and then to harmonise with Bob on the Little Feat number ‘Dixie Chicken’.

At this point the Open Mic section ended for a short period while the duo ‘The Hot Tamales’ took over for a set [to cries of “give us an Irish song” from the same woman!]

After their first set had ended, Bob once more got on stage and performed ‘Deportee’ followed by

‘You’re as drunk as me’. Jer McDade then got up and sang ‘Bob Treetop’ and an old Kinks number ‘Lola’.

"Leprechaun or Diddy Man??!!??"

Bob then carried on the sixties theme with ‘The Mighty Quinn’ before persuading Marlene and Annie Fagin up to sing ‘The Galway Shawl’ = an Irish number!!

Joe Mac then performed a couple of songs ‘Ride On ‘ and then the only Irish song he said he knew ‘The Sally Gardens’.

Ian Adie was then back on stage and sang ‘Take the ribbons from your hair’ followed by an Eagles number ‘Tequila Sunrise’.

{Ian had requested some more photos of himself - glad to oblige Ian!!}

Bob then got Elspeth to sing ‘After the Goldrush’ before finishing the Open mic portion of the evening off with ‘You keep me hanging on’ with Elspeth singing backing vocals.

The Hot Tamales then got back on stage to finish off the evening.

Ian asked if I could take an 'official photo' of all the people in the bar who were wearing the shamrock and guiness hats, - so they all squeezed onto the stage for a group picture.