.... What a way to end a fabulous year of Vintage Sixties Live.
It was a bitterly cold night but the club was absolutely packed by 7:30pm and there was a definite "buzz" in the room (and not from Paula's handbag either)
Kenny was back after his short stay in hospital and as enthusiastic as ever.
Marie St Claire and her old group The Sapphires would be reunited later on stage after an unbelievable 42 YEARS. I've heard of having a "rest" between bookings but that is ridiculous.
Several other surprises had also been planned - most of which AlanL and myself did not even know about.
A quick look down the running order revealed a total of 30 performers doing 34 songs between them - so off we went with me drawing the short straw as usual followed by Leo, who can always be relied upon to come up with something a bit different.
AlanL was joined on stage by BillyB, Colin Ibbertson and Mark next for a couple of instrumental "crackers" for Xmas. Wonderful Land - but the Mike Oldfield version this time for a change - followed by the ever popular Theme from Local Hero.
Next up was Brian who had managed to recruit Emma and Joanne as backing singers for Suspicious Minds and Do you Love Me, followed by a very ambitious arrangement of the malcolm Roberts classic "Love is All" which they all managed to pull off brilliantly. It was hard to believe that this was a scratch band who had no rehearsal whatsover before the performance.
Brian was followed onstage by the inimitable James Tait along with sidekick, and Chet style guitarist extraordinaire, Don Boot for a couple of finger style gems.
Contrary to what Jim would have had us believe - Don did play all the difficult bits.
More to follow shortly........
In the meantime who can suggest a caption for the pic?
(I'm not sure why Pete is holding a tissue.)
First one from Kelly: This is Paula on her way to collecting her Xmas ASBO :>)
I have uploaded the first pics of the night here
More to come.
