In the first half of June, the thought of some proper summer weather seemed like a bit of a fantasy, but the weather gods, no doubt inspired by the memory of Wakeylele\’s appearance at this venue last year, rewarded the local community accordingly with blue skies and temperatures comfortably into the \’twenties.\’ The band made their way along verdant pathways with wildflowers abounding and nature generally in overdrive to the very attractive glade where gazebos nestled and families gathered to rest and play. Gone were the woolly mittens and michelin men coats of winter and Spring to be replaced with t- shirts, shorts, summer hats, sunglasses and light colours. Anyway, enough of the scene setting – it was now time to get down to the serious business of testing out the new sound equipment with Joe, David and Dave Burgess to the fore, Dave having paired his phone to the new speakers. Three or four sound checks later, with the possibility of restlessness from the expectant audience, having heard the opening lines of Side by Side more than enough (fortunately none of the stalls were selling ripe tomatoes), we were ready to go. As we progressed smoothly through the first set the only concern was that someone, (or a music stand) might come a cropper because of the uneven ground with Chris especially feeling under pressure and keen to avoid another trip to Pinderfields A and E department. Thankfully, though, the gods were still with us and once again the band had the crowd swinging to the strains of Bad Moon Rising and another near perfect performance of Come Up and See Me together with a decent attempt at Daydream Believer.
With time at a premium the interval was necessarily brief but there was just time to grab a beer or indulge in a glass of wine kindly donated by the organisers, all stored appropriately in a large bucket containing ice cubes. (There was also time for Roy to change into his shorts which fortunately he did discreetly – as far as I\’m aware.) David then gave us a two minute, then one minute warning to be ready to resume playing. However, at the last second, following Pop\’s usual rallying cry, Linda arrived, hot and bothered … no, not carrying a bunch of coconuts but holding a hog roast bap in her hand! To be fair to her, she had just a week earlier turned up to play at Horbury after a fall in her drive, thus displaying a stoic spirit of battling on, which even Ian McKellan couldn\’t quite manage after he
fell off the stage recently. Back to the action and the performance levels never flagged as we zoomed through a shortened second set with David\’s reminder to show teeth and smiles during On the Road Again paying dividends together with another feather in the Wakeylele cap for no glitches during Sit Down.
Pop\’s family had meanwhile arrived for a brief love -in which only added to the (very) warm atmosphere. David even felt able to adopt a direct approach in drawing folks’ attention to the YAA buckets, giving them two choices: If you appreciate our efforts give us your money and if not – give us your money! We then rounded thing off with the easy to join – in Union of Different Kinds, followed immediately by a very zestful performance of Zing which concluded the afternoon and for which we received generous applause.
Great work by the tech team to transport, set up and have the new speakers in place (with discussions for future arrangements likely), and once more to David for leading the way. In fact, in the midst of what is a very busy schedule everyone deserves a pat on the back.
Soon to come!
The White Rose Centre
Thursday: 10:30 for 11a.m.