Open Mic Night at the Grey Horse (23 July 14)

Now that the Open Mic Night no longer has a regular slot at the Grey Horse (it now spreads itself across two venues) it is harder for me to get to as first I need to find out if it is happening that week or not, which is effort. It was much easier when I knew for certain that it was on and could wander down there any time that evening if I was free.

I was thinking of going to it this week as I had nothing else to do that evening but a quick look at Facebook suggested that it had been at the Grey Horse the previous week so I assumed that it would be at the other venue that week.

Then Pete sent me a message.

Pete is the person that I normally go to the Open Mic Night with, or rather we normally go separately and bump in to each other there, and he had some real news. He would be playing that week. That meant that I had to go.

Kingston Council tried to stop me by digging up Richmond Road forcing me to walk there quickly as I had just allowed myself enough time to get there by bus. I got there just a few minutes before Pete, Tony and Eugene came on.

Tony and Eugene I had seen play many a time, mostly with Hoaxwind but also in other local bands and at other Open Mic Nights. Pete I had only seen in a very informal Irish music pub gathering.

This was there first outing as a band and it was only at the end that Tony decided that they were called Random Numbers.

As is the general rule, they played three numbers and I was particularly pleased to hear Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World in the middle of their short set.

They made a good sound and were well received.

The rest of the evening continued much as usual with some regulars singing regular songs, some regulars singing new songs, some new people singing regular songs and some new people singing new songs. One of the later, one of the several sole young men with acoustic guitars, impressed me enough for me to seek him out later to let him know that he had.

It was a fairly male-heavy evening with, I believe, stalwart Catherine Paver providing the sole female voice of the evening. That was somewhat unusual as there are often four or five women singing and I like the way that that mixes the sound of the evening up. Women also seem to be less prone to singing sad songs about early lost loves than men so they make for a livelier and happier evening too.

Everything else worked well. The Young's Ordinary flew down on the hot evening, the music was pretty good all the way through and I had several conversations with several people, the most memorable being on whether it is appropriate for schools to spend money on PR.

It was a jolly and very pleasant evening and I probably ought to make the effort to find out when future events are on.