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        Pete Atkin >> Gigs >> Last Night at the Pheasantry
        
(Message started by: Seán Kelly on Today at 10:32)

Title: Last Night at the Pheasantry
Post by Seán Kelly on Today at 10:32

https://photos.smugmug.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-nqZkJ3L/0/e540a2fc/L/IMG_8895LR-2_2000x1333-L.jpg (https://www.seankellyphotos.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-nqZkJ3L/A)

I feel pretty confident in saying that a great time was had by all at the the Pheasantry last night. I missed the first post-pandemic-performance in the summer so I was really pleased to be able to see Pete and Simon playing there at last. The audience is slightly smaller than previously so a little bit more room all round - but not so much as to dent the atmosphere in my view. And the atmosphere was great - a very supportive crowd - quiet and noisy at just the right times.

https://photos.smugmug.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-XkR8cgj/0/7fb080e6/L/IMG_8918LR_2000x1333-L.jpg (https://www.seankellyphotos.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-XkR8cgj/A)

I can tell you some of the songs played but these will be in largely the wrong order - sorry I didn't take notes - I just sat and enjoyed the set :)

Pete began with Have You Got A Biro
and then the set also featured (in a different order!):

Is It Just The Way You Are
The Flowers And The Wine
30 Year Man
The Eye Of The Universe
Apparition In Las Vegas
Screen Freak
Beware Of The Beautiful Stranger (closing the first set)
Master Of The Revels (opening the second set)

There were some interestingly paired songs following each other. So, two musician-themed songs in Thief In The Night and Session-Man's Blues. Two songs concerned (at least in part) with ageing in Senior Citizens and Road of Silk. and two er time-shift songs in The Last Hill That Shows You All The Valley and Canoe.

There was an interesting diversion about writing Perfect Moments when, Pete said that, for the only time ever, he had tried starting off with a chord sequence. He demonstrated by playing us a bunch of snatches of popular songs over a well known chord sequence to much hilarity in the audience. Of course when he actually wrote the final version of Perfect Moments he only used the first two chords of the sequence before he went off into something more original. After the explanation - and entertainment - they of course played Perfect Moments.

Another nice moment was when he related having seen Chris Martin of Coldplay on TV last night and wondered out loud why he wasn't as famous as Martin. "Because you're too good" came the cry from one audience member. Pete's own analysis was that he didn't spend enough money on his clothes (estimating that Martin's t-shirt, jeans and trainers probably cost £3,400 :)

https://photos.smugmug.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-CJZXXXg/0/ee2da7cc/L/IMG_8942-PanoLR-2_2000x902-L.jpg (https://www.seankellyphotos.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-CJZXXXg/A)

Simon was on excellent form as always - carrying blithely on at one moment when Pete had a brief lyric-lapse (he assured us later that the verse he had missed out was definitely the least interesting one :)

https://photos.smugmug.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-dLXchWg/0/f7d9fe5b/L/IMG_8920LR_2000x1333-L.jpg (https://www.seankellyphotos.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-dLXchWg/A)

They finished with Laughing Boy and came back for an encore which started with an unheard song written (if I have got this right) for the Together At Last tour with Clive - which included alternate lines for Clive to sing. A humorous reminder of previous double-acts good, bad and infamous, it was a proper treat for the hardcore fans (Who? Me?! :) ) and it segued into The Original, Original Honky Tonk Train which was really the ned of the night. A hugely enjoyable evening. Many thanks to the Pheasantry staff, Simon Wallace and of course Pete. Looking forward to the next one :-)

https://photos.smugmug.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-M2wS5RN/0/b069e053/L/IMG_8908LR_2000x1333-L.jpg (https://www.seankellyphotos.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-M2wS5RN/A)

Title: Re: Last Night at the Pheasantry
Post by Seán Kelly on Today at 10:38

NB I have probably missed a few songs so hopefully someone can correct.

Title: Re: Last Night at the Pheasantry
Post by Carole on Today at 19:43

Thank you, Seán! A great review and fab photos - as always!!

Title: Re: Last Night at the Pheasantry - Set List
Post by S J Birkill on 18.10.21 at 07:02

Hi All

Pete dropped me a line with the 'official' set list for Saturday night. He added some interesting commentary to the list, which I think is worthy of inclusion here. Because it is interesting!

Quote:

Have you Got A Biro? [I played the middle-8 chords as an out-of tempo intro]
(segue into) Touch Has A Memory
Apparition in Las Vegas [a bit slower than the record – an improvement, I think]
Senior citizens [piano on the verse this time]
Thief in the Night
Sessionman’s Blues (no gtr)
Eye of the Universe [gtr led, but not finger-picked]
The Road of Silk (no gtr)
multiple quotes over C-Am-F-G7 leading to Perfect Moments change
Perfect Moments
Beware of the Beautiful Stranger

Master of the Revels (no gtr)
Screen-Freak
The Last Hill …
Canoe (no gtr)
The Flowers and the Wine (no gtr)
Thirty Year Man (no gtr)
Laughing Boy

+
Together At Last
(segue into) Honky Tonk Train

The first set ran nearly an hour so we cut a couple of things from the second set (Ice Cream Man opener and A King At Nightfall) and that seemed to work OK. I don’t think anyone felt shortchanged.

They were an exceptionally good crowd, vocal and generous.

Pete reports that he played the set standing up, as of old, except for the guitar numbers where he retreated to the stool.
Together at Last (https://www.peteatkin.com/i71.htm) was a comic number he did with Clive on the, erm, Together at Last tour in the autumn of 1975, as noted by Seán, above. They duetted, singing alternate lines.

Steve

Title: Re: Last Night at the Pheasantry
Post by Seán Kelly on 18.10.21 at 17:31

Brilliant - thanks for that Steve - and Pete. Here's to more!

Title: Re: Last Night at the Pheasantry
Post by Avner Greenberg on 23.10.21 at 11:09

This was obviously another splendid performance.
So good to see Pete, and Simon, in full fettle.
Thank you Seán. I do appreciate your report and great photos.
Best wishes,
Avner