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Title: Eyemouth Hippodrome 29.6.19 Post by Rob Spence on Today at 22:55 I've just posted this to the Facebook group. Well done Phil Smith for organising it. About 20 minutes ago, Pete's gig at Eyemouth Hippodrome drew to a close. In the intimate space, we were privileged to hear once again those songs we love so well. Pete was on prime mid-season form, offering some background info for some of the songs that I had not heard before. Set list: Master of the Revels k segue into Perfect Moments k Ice Cream Man g Care Charmer Sleep g Sessionman's Blues k Hill of Little Shoes k Payday Evening g Frangipani Was Her Flower k Commercial Traveller k Girl On The Train g ============= Interval The Pearl Driller g segue Be Careful When They Offer You The Moon g Canoe k Between Us There Is Nothing k Thief in the Night g All The Dead Were Strangers g The Road of Silk k Hypertension Kid g Touch Has A Memory k Thirty Year Man k ========= Encore: Beware Of The Beautiful Stranger g More when I have had time to digest it all, but here's a couple of titbits: Pete said "All the dead were strangers" is a line in an obscure Jimmy Cagney movie where he plays a drunken reporter. "Thirty Year Man" is also a movie reference: it's what Montgomery Clift's character in "From Here To Eternity" is called, as he's signed up for the maximum duration in the army. One other point of note - the jeunesse dorée of Eyemouth decided to let off fireworks outside the back door of the venue halfway through "Hypertension Kid." Pete didn't miss a beat. What a trouper! |
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Title: Re: Eyemouth Hippodrome 29.6.19 Post by Carole on Today at 23:24 Thanks, Rob! |
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Title: Re: Eyemouth Hippodrome 29.6.19 Post by Ian Sorensen on 30.06.19 at 18:20 The Hippodrome gig was excellent! Pete was in good voice and I thought his rendition of "Canoe" was as good as I'd heard. He didn't do any "hi energy" songs, like "Joker" presenting us with a more mellow selection. When he asked for encores I suggested a couple of the funnier songs as I'd felt the setlist was pretty solidly serious songs, with maybe a couple of wistful light pieces thrown in - "Girl on The Train" and "Sessionman's Blues" for example. In the end he chose "Beware of the Beautiful Stranger" which I guess is both funny and wistful. Nice venue (about 40 seater) run by a couple who were very friendly. Speaking to Pete after the show he was very complimentary about all the arrangements and very pleased with the turnout. They have regulars who just turn up to see who is on. I spoke to a local couple who turned up not knowing who or what Pete was and they said the thoroughly enjoyed it. Phil Smith got the praise due to him for setting it all up and seemed quite buzzed by all the thank yous he got. A blurry audience! This was taken 25 mins before the show. In the end the venue was pretty well full. https://www.peteatkin.com/userpics/915103(soren)audience.jpg I used to live in Scotland but when I retired I moved to Derbyshire, so getting up to Eyemouth involved a 250 mile drive. But at least I can now do a version of The Proclaimers song "I would drive 500 miles just to hear Pete Atkin sing once more". There were some good new stories between songs, with an especially long one outlining the possible inspiration for "Beautiful Stranger" that involved a late night trip by a bunch of students from Cambridge to an all night cafe and running out of petrol on the return, being stopped by the police and eventually arriving back just in time to see the annual funfair packing up and all the fortune tellers' caravans departing. There were a couple of "fluffs", the main one leaving him strumming the opening chords of "Pearl Driller" until he admitted he couldn't remember the first verse, so just started at the 2nd one. True professionalism! I'm sure if he'd asked some in the audience could have helped out, but as you know, he likes to disguise what song he's starting by strumming chords that mislead the ear into thinking it's going to be, say, "Touch Has Memory" and it becomes "Hypertension Kid" or some other song. (Maybe that the fake intro put him off the right song. Would that be him hoist by his own pete-chord? I'll get my coat.....) Note the clever Eye Mouth logo on the stage. https://www.peteatkin.com/userpics/914987(soren)PeteAtkin.jpg Ian Sorensen |
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Title: Re: Eyemouth Hippodrome 29.6.19 Post by S J Birkill on 30.06.19 at 20:17 Thank you Ian! Nice to have an impression of the scale (intimacy?) of the place, and to hear that everything had gone so well. I wonder how many came quite so far for the gig, apart from Pete (of course), Rob Spence (thanks for the set-list, Rob!) and yourself. Great shot of Pete on stage, and I'm pleased to see you using MV's new image hosting facility -- you're only the second member (after Seán) to make full use of it. (I'll have to make a tutorial post next on how to use it for an avatar image, so we can put faces to more of the names.) Steve |
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Title: Re: Eyemouth Hippodrome 29.6.19 Post by Phil Smith on 01.07.19 at 03:13 Many thanks for words of appreciation directed at me. I did give Pete some suggestions about the set list, and he kindly obliged me on quite a few. I tried to include lesser performed songs, and ones which might draw in those previously unacquainted with the canon. Successful? Well, I certainly don't think we can have any reservations about Pete's performance.But you can't please everyone.... It has been asked of me in the past, given my musical knowledge, why I never considered a career in the "business", and I always replied "no, not ever" given some of the people it was my misfortune to encounter in the early '70s. This could never be the case in relation to Pete. It has been an honour, a privilege, and a pleasure to link up with him in relation to this gig. I get the impression that the Hippodrome performance has given as much pleasure to others as it did to me. But reality strikes hard, and at tonight's Spooky Men's Chorale gig in Edinburgh [thoroughly excellent], two people in front of me complained about my paper bag rustling, not, I might add, within a song performance [for such I would not do. EVER]. Arguably, I let the side down with an Anglo Saxon response. I must do better.... I may be suffering with a case of the post promotional hypertension trying to relearn my alto saxophone gig blues. Or possibly I might be mentally unwell. Who could tell? |
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