February saw Plug & Play’s evening of live musical entertainment fill the Players lounge to capacity with the headline act - The Indian Postal Service. The band are in fact local to Cumbria and the Lake District and say they are more used to dodging rain storms and stomping through bracken than dodging scooters and taxi’s in the dusty streets of Dehli, to bring their feral and blustery tunes to the ears of their audience. The Indian Postal Service are Wayne Scurrah (Vocals, Guitar, Lyrics), Mike Fearon (Lead Guitar), Richard Dickens (Bass), Amy Boud (Percussion), Kat Mclennan (Vocals), Hannah Flynn (Vocals) and Kevin Sharkey (Drums). They really held the audience’s interest with some great songs and compositions and beautiful harmony’s. Your reviewer and host of the event even had to move tables and chairs away from the front of the stage so that the girls in the audience had a space to dance in! What a great night!

But it wasn’t just The Indian Postal Service who rocked the stage, as February’s Plug & Play night was one of the busiest we have ever seen with eleven acts wanting to perform during the first half of the evening, which is traditionally reserved for local performers and those who take the brave step and turn up at the door with a guitar in hand and a belly full of nerves. It really was a night of great live music, in fact their were so many performers that The Indian Postal Service had to run slightly late and we could only let most people perform two songs, with one or two exceptions! 

Joseph Davidson was the first to take to the stage with an old home-made guitar, some great finger picking and entertaining stories. Katy Lou got up to deliver some humorous material with her gentle voice and guitar technique. Mark Raine and Chris Walker performed some excellent impromptu blues numbers. John Rothwell came all the way from Bowness to play some great blues, we were very impressed with his vocal talent. Richard Whiting came over from Langdale to perform just one song. We hope he will come back with more. Catherine Lomax came down from Carlisle with her family; your reviewer first saw Catherine play at Carlisle folk & blues club some months ago and was in awe at her confident delivery for such a youthful performer. Another youthful performer who always entertains the audience is Thomas Chambers, who was back and insisted on playing three songs! Thomas’s delivery is getting stronger with each performance and his banter between songs often has the audience laughing out loud. Next up were two young lady’s who were a great surprise, Anya and Arianah, we’d not seen them before but hope they will come back to perform again. Charles of the Ritz was the name of the next band; they had come down from Carlisle to perform some punchy material and we would like to see them hone their talents and perform again . They were followed by Neil McHardy, also from Carlisle and a regular face at plug & play and Carlisle folk & blues club. Barny and Henry brought the first half of the evening to a close with some lovely material.

Barny will be one of the acts headlining March’s (Sunday 6th) Plug and Play night. We’ve been very impressed with Barny’s performances on our little stage and have offered him a bigger set. Barny will be joined by Lizzy & John who have also impressed us greatly when they have performed previously and whom we have offered a longer set as a headline act. Both acts have come to us from the Newton Rigg campus, and it is great to have such strong support from the student population of Penrith. As usual there will be an open mic slot for those brave souls who turn up with an instrument and wish to perform. Doors open at 7pm and the entrance fee is just £3 with a pound off if you play. Plug & Play can be found at Penrith Playhouse, Auction Mart Lane, behind the Agricultural Hotel. For more information there is a website www.plug-play.co.uk and we’re also at facebook.com Plug ‘N’ Play.

By Mitch Mitchelson