Acoustic Mini Festival 18 October 2008

The Great Feel Good Company Presented

An Acoustic Mini Festival

At Chequer Mead East Grinstead  De La Warr East Grinstead West Sussex RH19 3BS

18 October 2008  18.30 - 22.15

http://www.thegreatfeelgoodcompany.com      http://www.almondgreenway.com     http://peoplesong.org

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http://www.almondgreenway.com/page88.html

Show Review

It was a great evening because they had a great audience. The theatre was not full but well attended, the numbers grew as the evening rolled on. 

Almond Greenway, guitar vocal, with Lukas Winkler, piano, and Derek Mandel, guitar and banjo, started the show. The first song, a classic, by Paul Simon  'April Come She Will' sensitively sung and accompanied by Almond and embellished with some excellent lead guitar from Derek Mandel. Almond joked about being 'The Warm Up Men', he was right, from where I was sitting the audience, at the beginning, where not sure what to expect, however, it took only a few songs for them to realise that their evening was going to turn into a fine time.

Wendy Arrowsmith was next on stage, it seemed that her guitar was un-amplified, but that made little difference, she is a petit Glasgow lassie, with a good line in narrative songs. The audience greeted her straight forward approach with ease, she has the talent to be able to look the audience straight in the eye from exactly the level they look at her. I particularly enjoyed her song about a ship leaving port with streamers showring down 'hold the ribbon in your hand feel it start to strain, when the ribbon breaks my heart will do the same' I hope I have the words correct.

The first half an hour passed quickly and shall I say 'normally' ? Then came what could be described as 'something completely different' Michael and Will, of the successful band 'Circulus', arrived. We could hear something was different and I am sure some thought they were in for some Morris Dancing.  Michael jangled onto the stage with 'bells on his toes' well at least around the tops of his boots. They took some moments to organise their kit and the produced some 'Elizabethan I' music using a variety of ancient instruments including a Citern and a Crumhorn. Obviously enjoyed by many in the audience, but the chap sitting to my left asked me if the performance was 'Mad' - I thought enjoyably different. Michael and Will certainly are both excellent musicians with a slightly superior air about them.

Then came another contrast Dave Press, a local, East Grinstead, Blues, guitarist, offered a very competent performance and was then joined by Deborah Jones, who has a very nice voice, a mix of Country, Jazz and Pop. I would say the only, small, let down from this performance was the reliance upon some, scrappy paper notes on a music stand, required, I suppose, to be a lyric prompt, a simple folder would have avoided this distraction to an excellent performance.

Marianne Segal has been around 'forever', her voice is still magic to the ears, she produced her hat and pulled out a great mixture of new and old material which was accompanied by some excellent violin and vocals from Mike (sorry I did not pick up his second name) - In the second set Mike actually played 'The Chair' with some drum sticks. Marianne also had help from Michael and Will from Circulus. The triumph of Marianne's second set was an unusual children's song called 'Root People' complete with actions and original sounds.

Then came Garry Jackson. Garry is a story teller who uses simple acoustic guitar playing to accompany his powerful voice. The songs he writes are clear and to the point, 'Crying Shame' and 'Mixed Up Crazy' have strong hooks and some of the audience actually sang along. The musical side was greatly enhanced by Derek Mandel's contribution on guitar. Almond Greenway lent his support in some choruses. One lady near me shed a tear during his last song 'Hardy Jackson' the story of a victim of hurricane Katrina, Hardy Jackson was clinging to the roof of his house holding on to his family, his wife told him you 'can't hold me' and she was tragically swept away by a wave.

The grand finale was the entire company singing, what they claimed was an un-rehearsed version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'. Some of the verses were lost in the excitement and a couple of the chords went west but it was enjoyable all the same.

Each of the acts did two fifteen minute spots so the show moved on with pace and variety, and even though the show was three and a half hours long, with a short break,  the audience left the theatre and congregated in the foyer, seemingly not wanting to go home. It seemed to me that most, if not all, of the faces looked extremely happy and content.

James Blake

http://www.folkandroots.co.uk/reviews6.html#acousticminifest

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