February 7th’s Plug and Play night proved extremely popular with another great turn out to see local performers take to the stage and the return of Ember who were the headline act of the evening. As the host of the event your reviewer was pleased to see so many local performers wanting to play and started the night off with a fresh young rock band called Paper Planes who had not performed in public before and whom we hope to hear much more from in the future. Tom Rostron came out from behind the bar to perform a stand up comedy routine based around the irritations of computers and printers. Guitarist and vocalist Greg Wilson teamed up with local guitar virtuoso Chris Walker for an excellent improvised set of 3 songs. The Electronic Pimp took to the stage (and at one point a table) to strut his stuff with guitar in hand. 88mph entertained with a great set of 3 self penned songs. Dave Howard came out of early retirement to play a couple of lovely songs. After some tuning difficulties Joseph impressed with some fancy guitar playing and to bring the first half of the evening to a close the young and talented Thomas Chambers was back to impress with two of his own songs. It really is great to see the young musicians and singer songwriters of Penrith and the Eden valley coming along to perform in front of the Plug & Play audience. It’s a privilege to be able to introduce them to our audience and of course for the performers it is a good opportunity to boost their stage confidence and network with other artists to better learn their craft.

Ember were on great form once again and entertained the Plug & Play patrons with their own unique blend of contemporary folk and country, mixed with humorous anecdotes and a genuine rapport with their audience. Ember have been playing together since a chance meeting in Barcelona in 2000 and have played to the delight of audiences all over the world. They were on top form and were easily encouraged to play several encores at the end of the evening much to the delight of your reviewer. Ember are Emily Williams from Wales and Rebecca Sullivan from Utah, USA. Unfortunately this will probably be the last time Ember will perform for Plug & Play as your reviewer has learnt they are to go their separate ways to pursue new projects and endeavours (although your reviewer suspects they will work together again). They were both a little cautious when prompted to disclose their plans but Rebecca let it slip she will be working with an Easter European Gypsy band, which sounds like a lot of fun. Plug and Play wish them well for the future. For more news or dates to see Ember this year go to www.embersong.com.

Next months headline band at Plug & Play will be The Deluxe, a great new blues band who list among their influences Freddie King, John Mayall and Arc Angels, and as always there will be an opportunity for local musicians and performers to entertain and practice their craft in the first half of the evening. Doors open at 7pm entrance is just £3 with a discount for performers. Plug and Play can be found at Penrith Playhouse, Auctionmart Lane, Penrith (behind the Agricultural Hotel).