Gig report: Jack Whelpton's 30th @ The Portland Arms

Bands: Flaming June, Paul Goodwin
Venue: The Portland Arms, Cambridge
Date: 08/05/11
Audience: Plenty of them, despite the excessive heat, enthusiastic for both bands
Sets: Flaming June - Rejoice, Under My Skin, You Do Moody So Well, The Boy I Knew Before I Met You, Stop The Ride, Nerves Of Steel, I Know What It's Like (no percussion), The Insane Ex-Girlfriend Parade, Rumplestiltskin, Little Love In A Cruel World, Wednesdays And Weekends; Paul Goodwin - Ghost Of Paddy's Night Past (Paul G solo), Forked Tongue, Watertight, This Place Is Dead Anyway, You Won't Break My Heart, Happy Ending (Paul G solo), 60 Miles With A Slow Puncture, Cold Case, Soaked To The Skin
Notes: Jack's a very popular figure on the Cambridge music scene, in fact I very much doubt there's a local band that he hasn't seen - and he champions a lot of them too, somebody who is geniuenly a fan of live music. For his 30th he hired the Portland and booked his favourite bands, I would have been there anyway as he's a good mate but I was really happy that he chose one of my regular bands, Flaming June, to play a full set. Among the other acts was Paul Goodwin - somebody who I honestly believe is one of the best songwriters I've seen in Cambridge over the last few years, it's folky, emotive stuff but it certainly pulls the heart strings. He hadn't played a full band gig for a long time, and his 'regular' drummer, Micky, was on holiday so I got asked to dep, an offer I readily accepted. Such is Jack's popularity the Portland was often heaving, perhaps considering the heat to an uncomfortable level, but there was such a nice vibe throghout the whole night. The headliner, critically acclaimed Australian singer-songwriter Emily Barker, was jetlagged so actually went on first - she's amazing, I see what all the fuss is about now. That was followed by my good mate Bryan's new band, The Narrow Sound, who were equally enjoyable. Next up was Flaming June and, even though it's been a while since our last show, we blasted through it with full energy. Given the humidity I was really fighting to play the songs at full speed at times, but we did - as always we put everything into it, there was so much energy on stage I'm amazed we kept going at full pelt. There was a slight restriction for me - because I had to bring both my drums and congas with me and my car isn't that big, so it was just the one conga for this one but it still did the trick, as much as my hands really hurt today which suggests I probably got a bit carried away. With litterally just ten minutes to put my essentials back on my drums I was then drumming for Paul Goodwin, alongside his regular band members Dave Greeves (electric guitar, guested on the Eureka Stockade album and also played the launch last year) and Andy Brown (bass, the guitarist/singer in Eureka Stockade...it's a small world sometimes). A completely different style of music, I had to be more restrained, and although I completely arsed up the start to 'This Place Is Dead Anyway' (which ironically is the easiest of the lot to play) the rest of it was pretty good I think - well, more than pretty good for just 2 rehearsals, and with songs of that quality you can't really go too wrong anyway. By the end of it, having played two fairly long shows in a row in the sweatiest room in Cambridge I felt both physically and mentally drained, but it's all completely worthwhile as I actually enjoyed every second of it. We then all drank beer until about 4 in the morning. Home now, finally, and somehow need to get my energy levels up in time for tonight's crunch rehearsal for 'Oscar Pike...' - I think a trip to Tescos to pick up a certain energy drink may be in order...