roots acoustic evening – Ferocious Blog

Bonus last gig of the year..

I’ve already gotten half-way through a review of 2016, but managed to sneak a cheeky bonus gig in last night. Having met up with some former workmates for an epic burger at Annie’s Burger Shack I found myself in Nottingham either at a loose end or ready to head home. Luckily for me I knew Sam Jones and Spud were appearing at a Roots Acoustic night at The Pit & Pendulum – since it was just around the corner it seemed rude not to pop along for a bit.

As I was driving and have work in the morning it wasn’t ever going to be a long night – but certainly a worthwhile diversion! I got to the venue just to see what I presume was the first act finishing up, so apologies about that (I can’t find who it was either, d’oh!), but he was an acoustic cover of a Radiohead song and sounded great. Meanwhile I’d found Sam, Spud and Chris propping up the bar. I’ve used the Pit a few times as a pre-gig venue, I’d never really thought of it as a music venue itself.

It works pretty well though – the Pelham Street side made up the music venue, with folk in the Victoria Street side having a few beers. It’s a shame more folk didn’t venture to the music half, but I suppose between Christmas and New Year isn’t the best time to expect big crowds. There were a few folk wandering in and around though to appreciate what was on offer. No matter how many people are in it always seems to take me ages to get served in there, I wasn’t even wearing any camo!

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 30th December 2016 / Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

The end of an era..

Sam Jones has been running his acoustic evenings at The Brown Cow in Mansfield getting on for two years now. I’ve had some great nights there – I forget even what lured me to them in the first place, I suspect it was to see Paige Seabridge, but it gave me a chance to get to know Sam’s music, and countless other artists in that time as well as see more familiar faces playing. It even gave me my first opportunity to surf to Freeborn John when Ken and Dan appeared there a little over a year ago.

In more recent months I’ve been a lapsed worshipper at the church of the Brown Cow, happily for me my weekends have become centred around spending time with Ella and Sunday afternoon is return-to-Stevenage time – but as I’m currently driving around in a capped mileage courtesy car we’ve reverted to trains to and from of a weekend, so my car accident whilst being crap has been great timing on that front, as I’d have really hated to not be able to make Sam’s last evening.

So it was I headed on up to Mansfield – the car park in the pub already full but a parking space found around the corner easily enough! Outside was time for a quick catch up with Chris of Roots Acoustic fame, as one era ends another begins – he’ll be taking on Sam’s night as one of his own which will be great! Getting in the pub the background music was courtesy of Roots Radio – inside it was great to be immediately greeted by Andrew, Brian, Paige, Suzy, Rob and Sam – with Martin, John, Angela, Joel, Brad and Kila arriving shortly after.

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 18th April 2016 / Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

2015 – The year of the Dog..

Okay, so Ferocious Dog have been around a little longer – but this last year has felt rather like a landmark. And not just because back in February it’s when Ferocious Blog was born, ha! The lead up to a new year is traditionally a time for reflecting back on the year just gone and looking forward to the next one, so I figured it’d be nice to trawl back through the months and pull out a highlight or two for each month of 2015, it will be tough to pick just one or two so feel free to chip in your own in the comments – despite my best efforts I didn’t quite make it to every Ferocious Dog gig in the year!

January 2015 – a light month, Ferocious Blog was yet to be created (although it had been an idea kicking around in my head for at least a couple of years). Checking my calendar and personal blog doesn’t reveal much at all in the way of Ferocious Dog activity – we’d have been still basking in the warm glow of Dogfest back in December – I latterly discovered that a 3 Piece Acoustic performance took place in honour of Ella’s 21st birthday in this month, but alas I didn’t know Snotty at this juncture!

February 2015 – the blog is born after an acoustic appearance by Ken and Dan at the Brown Cow in Mansfield. Seldom has one of Sam’s nights had such a huge crowd packed in. The demand for the event was the perfect excuse to arrive early and chat nonsense with friends for the afternoon. An afternoon of drinking had taken its toll on Dean who for the first time decreed I needed to get up and surf in his place – a great way to start what became a year of extreme ‘dogging’. These smaller intimate gigs are as enjoyable for me as the bigger and bolder shows that are to follow. We were first introduced to Scott at this appearance too.

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 30th December 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Thoughts

East(wood) bound and down..

My yearly stats tell me this is my hundredth post on Ferocious Blog which of course was born back in March this year – so not a bad rate of updating. It was to Eastwood that Ella and I headed for our last gig of what’s been a very busy year to see Brad Dear supported by Kate Auburn, Joseph Knight and until childcare issues put a spanner in the works a certain Ken Bonsall. Whilst of course it’s always nice to see Ken perform, it didn’t take away from a cracking evening’s music.

Chris organises Roots Acoustic Evenings every tuesday up at the Wellington Inn in Eastwood – normally tuesdays don’t normally work well for me, but in the limbo period between Christmas and New Year gave me the chance to get up there for what turned out to be a splendid gathering of friends to enjoy the musical fayre on offer. With work in the morning I was driving and found a parking space right outside the pub which is always a bonus!

First up was Kate Auburn, she took to the stage with her guitar and launched into Jolene which was a nice way to get the crowd warmed up with something familiar. The bulk of her set was made up of original songs though – lots of delicate guitar picking overlaid with a great voice – she’s already confirmed for Ey Up Mi Duck festival so I’m looking forward to seeing her perform again. Let Me Go, Morning Light and Me and You were stand out tracks then the set was finished up with a cover of Girl from the North Country by Bob Dylan.

(more…)

Freeborn Al / 30th December 2015 / Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments