Gig report: Trevor Jones Band @ Black Bull, Godmanchester

Band: The Trevor Jones Band
Venue: The Black Bull, Godmanchester
Date: 27/01/12
Audience: Busy, very nice
Set: All I Am, Badman, Shine A Light, Alive, I Don't Wanna Talk About It, Old Fashioned Woman, Roll On The Rain, Can't Take This Anymore, Falling, Solid Ground.
Notes: It's been a good while since the full four-piece Trevor Jones Band played an electric set (I think the last time was late last year at the Troudabour), although we're reasonably well rehearsed I have to say. The 'band nights' at the Black Bull are ambitious events - to be honest on arrival I sensed my patience might be tested, but I was proved wrong simply because I enjoyed myself a lot. There's 8 bands on the bill - 4 in the acoustic small room, and 4 in the main live room, with the plan being that there's music on solid for the whole night, although the schedules are planned so that you don't miss a track from any of the bands, it's very clever. But that's a lot of bands, basically a monthly festival. We were headlining, which means a late start - on stage 11.30pm (and I was aware that I had to be up early in the morning for a screen test for a potential new Oscar Pike short film), and a long time to be spent in one venue considering I turned up 2 hours before the show even started to set up my kit. But it turned into a lovely evening - great to catch up with friends who made the trip over (Marcus, Tom - who was also playing, Aidy - we (as The British IBM) are playing the venue in March) and some really good bands, the time just flew by. Roger Smith was excellent - an old mate of mine who played early on, indie band Jakobi were punchy and brilliant to watch, whilst Australian singer-songwriter Cody completely knocked me sidewise with her jaunty, quirky tunes with a subtle hint of heartbreak - as soon as her set finished I approached her and offered to be her drummer (foolish considering I'm turning down drum work all over the place at the moment, but I was just blown away by those songs). With the night quickly passing, it was soon our turn to hit the stage and amazingly, despite being late, a decent crowd remained to watch us. The sound was excellent, and despite having a heavy cold Trevor was on good form, responding well to the excitable, but completely positive young audience. We played well I think, me less so - I'm having real issues with my snare sound at the moment, last night it was toooo sharp, a head overhaul is needed and it's an annoying distraction on my playing, but nobody would have noticed. A really nice gig, and we all came away feeling very happy, and an absolute top-notch event too despite my many initial reservations.