March’s edition of Plug & Play night at the Penrith Playhouse was very well attended once again with a great line up of local musicians taking to the stage to perform their material for the audience before the headline act The Deluxe performed an excellent set of punchy, funky blues, writes Mitch Mitchelson.

UltraBrap opened up the night with a good set of 5 songs, mostly rock covers, UltraBrap are a young band who show great promise and we hope to see them again. Ethan Thomas was next on the stage to counterpoint the rock with two of his own more folky styled songs which were well received. Richards Piano were next up with Jonathan Trengrove on guitar and Abigail Barnes on vocals. Richards Piano is a new collaboration for Jonathan and Abi confessed she was very nervous (not her exact words), they performed two of their own songs and the audience loved it. Paper Planes, the young band who performed their first ever set in February were back but didn’t want to open the night this time, there is a really experimental feel to this three piece and your reviewer hopes that they keep at it and hone their act with practice and conviction. Ben Eggleston took to the stage to perform two great songs, followed by Ian Lee who surprised everyone with his great voice and musical talent. Next up was Fen McCallum and your reviewer must confess to being absolutely blown away by Fen’s act. Fen has a quiet disposition and took to the stage with her guitar confessing to the audience that she wasn’t really a guitar player. Her act could have gone anywhere from that point, so she sat and strummed her guitar with one finger and started to sing with the most beautiful and moving voice. We hope very much to see more of Fen McCallum at Plug & Play. Joseph Davidson brought the first half of the evening to a close nicely with two songs and some fancy guitar playing.

The Deluxe were the headline act of the evening and performed a great set of punchy blues numbers, they are a local blues band who list among their influences Freddie King, John Mayall and Arc Angels. Your reviewer had not seen The Deluxe play before and was delighted with their set which had elements of rock and funk. Some great covers, including some ZZ Top numbers. They were easily encouraged to play over their allotted time with shouts of encore (which is French for Again, once more). Look out for The Deluxe and check out their myspace page for more information and gigs.