Plug ‘N’ Play

Bob Fox

The first Plug & Play of 2007 was a well attended event with everyone chilling out after the fun and festivities of the previous two weeks.

Ben Mattinson was first up with a smooth little number he wrote as a College project which we called “No Name”. Its good to see new faces at PnP, and Bens immediate two way interaction with the audience was nice to see. “Fade”, “Sunrise Town” and “Garden Path” were all got the reception you expect from the PnP crowd and his final song “Insecure” showed what a confident and talented musician his is. Paul and Sally got up next with a Vocal, Guitar and Flute set (continuing in the PnP tradition of all types of groupings), “Tramps and Hawkers”  was a wonderful piece showing off Paul’s guitar work nicely and also the close bonding between the voice and flute, giving a pleasing harmonic sound to the words of the song. Sally then gave us a blast of Danish Waltz music with Paul accompanying, finishing off with “John O’Breams”, a song based around one of Tchaikovsky’s  themes. The Lancashire-based duo Blackheart, consisting of Chrissy on vocals and Richard on guitar and vocals, then got up to finish off the open mic session, starting off with “I’ll see you there” and carrying on to give us powerful songs about Relatives, “94 years”, home towns, “Wonderland” and marriage, “Blue flowers for tomorrow”. Chrissy’s voice floated nicely above the intricate guitar work of Richard, who harmonized with feeling in both the choice of harmonic and  intensity of the note. Their CD “indigo” is available from their web site: www.theblackhearts.eu 

The main act was the eagerly awaited visit of Bob Fox. Famous for “Big River” (yes, as sung by Jimmy Nail) and “Sally Wheatley”, Bob is a songwriter of great feeling and passion for his native North-East. Sculpting songs from his thoughts and experiences throughout his life and interspersing traditional songs such as “When the boat comes in” about the herring fishermen of the North-East coast. Audience participation is an important part of Bobs set, and as usual the PnP crowd were up for the challenge.

“Jack Crawford”, “Celebrated working man” and “Life is not kind to the drinking man” kicked off his first set and immediately had the audience on his side. Bobs accent gave the songs authenticity, combine this with the passion in his voice and you get a singer who keeps you listening to the very last. “Ballad of the big ships” about life in the ship yards, “Tailors song” and “Child of mine” to finish off the first set were all applauded warmly by the crowd.

The second half continued in the same vein. Kicking off with “Bonnie Gateshead Lass” and passing through, amongst others, “Champion at keeping them rolling”, “Shoals of Herring”, “Galway Shawl” and “Sally Wheatley”. Called back for and encore, Bob first played “Waters of the Tyne” and then to much delight played “Big River”. When you listen to Jimmy Nail singing this song it’s a nice tune, when Bob sings it, it is a powerful song about the decline of the Tyne industries. One voice, one guitar and an audience that was listening silently to an excellent song sung by a wonderful singer…Bliss!!

By Andy Johnson