Well I have just about come down from what was probably my best gig experience ever.
Yes – The Clan at Cambridge Rock Festival last Thursday evening.
Brilliantly organised and a stage large enough to accommodate my full amp set up for once.
We went on at 6:30 pm following a great build up intro by Sue Marchant from BBC radio Cambridge and the place rocked from the start.
Usual Opener “Rock for you” was followed by “Night Ride”, both well received and then given we were on the Blues Stage we threw in “Walking by Myself” , the old Jimmy Rogers blues tune which was brought to public attention by Gary Moore.
“Heard it all before” followed and then especially for our good friend Simon Berry and his wife Vicky it was our song about life “Day to Day”.
Another cover – ZZ Top’s “Sharp dressed Man” had everyone singing along and people stomping at the front. New song “Tear us apart” grooved along nicely like an old favourite and “Rock ‘n’ Roll (it’s in my blood)” had more singing from the audience.”The Few” was the penultimate track before closing the set with “The Sultans Shadow” our version of Dire Strait’s Sultans of swing segued into Rory Gallagher’s Shadow Play and back again. It’s a good one to finish with as it can be extended or shortened as required.
Anyway not wanting to bore people with too much self-indulgent guitar soloing I ended it at 7:24 – 6 minutes ahead of schedule which I figured was ok.
How wrong was I? The crowd loved it, screamed for more and we were told we could fit in another quick one so eternal rocker “Born to Be Wild” was delivered and once again had the large crowd in good voice. Then it was all over and we left the stage to rapturous applause.
A Fantastic storming gig! But it didn’t end there, after signing “Second helpings” CDs at the merch stall for people we were able to relax and watch Atomic Rooster and Pure Floyd over a few beers.
All evening people were coming up and saying how much they enjoyed our set, this continued right through Friday as well. Quite a few folks had seen us there in 2011 and others had seen us in various places around the country. Some like Simon were there specifically to see us which was nice. We even bumped into a couple (apologies, didn’t catch their names) who used to watch us at the Queens in Accrington, another venue now sadly closed.
It wasn’t just the festival goers either, the stage crew, Sue Marchant and a lot of others involved were saying how good it was. Jim, Steve and I really appreciate the comments and feedback. Thanks to Mary for operating the Merchandise Stall, yes we have Clan T-shirts and keychain Bottle openers in addition to CDs now.
It was great to meet up with old friends and meet new ones.
Martin Smith, sorry you couldn’t make it but hope all ok. Family does come first, keep me updated. Mark Taylor, hope you are feeling better and well enough to enjoy the rest of the festival, and Keith Thompson appreciate your difficult decision to give it a miss but have to say you missed a cracker, catch you soon.
So basically it couldn’t have gone better, we had a great time, everyone else had a great time that is quite simply what is all about what more do you want?
Seconds Helpings? More please.
Keep Rockin’
Craig