First Night at The Feathers

Packed to the rafters!

Wow! What a jam-packed night at the Feathers. It was almost “standing room only” and we even had to rob some stools from the main bar.

A huge thanks to everyone who turned up for what was our first meeting at the new venue – including those in the audience and the nineteen who got up to sing and play.

A bit hectic but on the whole, the evening went very well, especially as we were also getting to grips with a whole new way of doing things. A big thanks goes out to Isaac who pointed us in the right direction so far as the PA mixing desk was concerned. And I’m pleased to say that the only hint of the dreaded “howling feedback” came right at the end when I walked past one of the speakers with the radio mic still switched on!

Having got the first evening out of the way without any serious hitches, we learned that we need to rearrange the seating for next week as some of the performers felt they were too far from the audience.  The lighting too, needs tweaking at the stage area.

Lynda had a fight with the new mike stand. She won – and then went on to win the “booby prize” in the raffle! However, it turns out she loves sprouts so that was more of a treat than a booby!

On the subject of using the PA system, it was something of a baptism of fire with two “bands” to balance. There were more mics than places to plug them (note to self: use the big mixing desk next time!) Tom saved the day by diving into the boot of his car to produce a radio mic. Tom, Dick and Harry were joined not only by John Bass but by Raffael too. He did an excellent job of making that harmonica sound like the saxaphone in their rendition of Baker Street.

There were solo spots from Stephen, Mark, Joe, Geoff, Raffael, myself and Barry. Plus the instrumental delights from Ian on his fabulous custom British made banjo (I swear he must have seven fingers on each hand!) and some smooth jazz guitar numbers from young Dan.

The proceedings were kicked off with a rousing set from Rockin’ Robin and brought to a close by the fabulous sounds of Jabberwocky featuring Gill, Ian, Mick and Jilly.

On a practical note…
We aim to tweak the PA and add another mic or two in addition to the direct inputs. The idea being to allow members to just turn up and plug in without having to lug heavy amplifiers with them every week.

We may have tamed the acoustic feedback on this our first night, but there is another type of feedback that we would welcome – and that is from you. Any ideas and suggestions will be gratefully received. Just use the comments box below…