First gig of the year; Ira Wolf, Alex Hale and Ayres at Chameleon

January has been a rather lacklustre, lethargic month for me but it got rounded off in style with my first gig night of the year. Okay it wasn't quite the last night of the month but the night before is near enough.

It was special in a number of ways - first gig night of the year, my daughter back in town to play, and Ira Wolf all the way over from Nashville to head the line-up.















 It was a great night. The upstairs room at Chameleon busy from the start, with my daughter seeming quite surprised that she'd actually have an audience for her opening set. I haven't heard her play in such a long while, so I was obviously going to be biased and think she was great (she was!).














She was followed by local Alex Hale (performing without the other members of the Alexander Christopher Hale Band) with his mix of funny, witty songs



















And rounding off the evening, Ira Wolf. I was introduced to her music, as so many other artists, by my daughter streaming Spotify on long car journeys (appropriate as many of her songs reference life on the road in her VW van), but haven't heard Ira live, I've now moved from 'casual listener' to 'fan'.

I'm not quite sure how I'd describe her music - folk? americana? country? Anyway, check out her website here and have a listen

One of those Sundays ...

 One of those bizarre Sundays - first a trip to local National Trust property, Kedleston Hall in the afternoon to see Christmas decorations.












I've found in the past that their festive decorations aren't as showy as other places', but this year they were very limited; the wickerwork dog at reception was definitely getting into the Christmas spirit though.

 Then in the evening a different sort of culture - a visit to Chameleon Arts Cafe in Nottingham to see Sean McGowan (and the ubiquitous George Gadd). This was the first place I saw Sean play, years ago when my daughter was doing gig promotion, but I haven't been back for a long while.


Sean was performing solo this tour, and sang at first without even a guitar accompaniment -there's not many who can quieten a chattering crowd with their voice, but he did!





Following Thursday's depressing election results, his songs seemed to have more of a protest element to them, but I think that's just me hearing old lyrics afresh in the light of current events; the protest has always been there.
Sean is, incidentally (and probably without realising it) the guy who persuaded me that I'm not too old to get out to gigs, so it's always good to go along when he's in town, and this is the second time I've seen him this year.

Back at Chameleon - Lewis Fieldhouse and Dave Giles

Lewis Fieldhouse

It was back to the good old Chameleon Arts Cafe last week to catch the Nottingham leg of Lewis Fieldhouse and Dave Giles' "Pay What You Want" tour. (It shows how my habits have changed to even start to think of going BACK to a venue)

It was an unusual gig in a couple of ways - firstly ticket prices. Entry was (as you might guess from the tour's name) 'pay what you want', so you could pay £10/20/more for a ticket, pay less with maybe the intention of buying a cd, or if you were short of cash this week, or could only drop in for an hour, you could get in for as little as, well, nothing. It seems to be 'all win' for the punter - it's as cheap as going to a pub open mic and the music's better. For the guys on tour though it seems a bit risky - after all they've put money up front to pay for venue hire, travelling and lodgings, and might not recoup those costs. I suppose the hope is that whereas as tickets at, say, a tenner might put folk off going to see two musicians they've never heard of, people can go along for free, listen to the music and either add to the donation bucket, or buy cds and merch. It's a gamble, and I'd love to know how often it pays off, but it doesn't seem polite to ask!

Dave Giles

Second unusual thing?  Instead of the regular 'headliner plus supports' set-up, the two guys were sharing the honours evenly. So there was no local (relatively) unknown to start the evening but straight into music from the guys you've gone along to see; a 30 minute set from Lewis Fieldhouse, followed by same length by Dave Giles, and after a short break they both came back with 40 minutes sets each. Again, it seems a win win situation for the punter - it gives the audience more time to get a feel for each performer's music, or if you can only get along for part of the evening you're still likely to catch one set from the musician you wanted to see.

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening (though some heating in the room wold have been nice). Both artists fall into the singer/songwriter, one man and his guitar, though with different styles of music. I'm hopeless at trying to describe music in any meaningful way so go and listen to them both on Spotify or Bandcamp or whatever; I shall be doing!

Not ONE but TWO gigs at Nottingham's Chameleon Arts Cafe

Gecko

It's a while since I've been to Nottingham's Chameleon Arts Cafe - back in December, I think, for one of the gigs promoted by my teen - then, last week, I went twice!

Lewis Bootle

The first time was to see a guy from London who goes by the name of Gecko, on tour with Lewis Bootle - and if you'd been at Glastonbury over last weekend you could have found them playing there.

The second gig was a slimmed down version of the first gig promoted by my teen - John Allen and Patrick Craig. Folk/punk singer-songwriter John may not be well known here, but in his native Germany he's opened for Frank Turner and played for thousands! 

Patrick Craig

Both were shows that I'd have thought would bring folk in - but they didn't. Both turned out to be intimate, friendly gigs, and all the musicians put on as good a show as if the room had been packed. I enjoyed both evenings perhaps better than if the room had been packed to capacity - but it doesn't pay the musicians' travel costs, nor cover the venue's overheads.

John Allen

Now, The Chameleon is a shy, secretive sort of place - down an alleyway off Angel Row, and then up a flight of stairs to the bar, and another to the performance area. Once you're settled in the bar, with its cafe-style tables and flickering tea-lights, there's a fabulous view over Market Square. Upstairs, the gig venue is more basic but has a great sound system and the biggest speaker-stacks I've ever seen (far taller than I am!)  But the snag about a venue that's so very secret is that people rarely seem to find their way there by accident. I just hope people DO find it, because I'd hate to see it close down, but also, if they're playing to empty space, musicians won't be coming back to Nottingham.