We’re Still Standing Ridings Gig 28th February by Phil Barr Videos Julie Srivastava Jenny Sidebottom
The fag end of winter, another wet morning, the prospect of demolition hanging over the Ridings – but a remedy was on hand – Mike Carr and Wakeylele to the rescue!
With one of our distinguished leaders, Chris HP, temporarily incapacitated owing to illness, another of our elite band selflessly volunteered to take the reins, and so Mike stepped up to the mic and with all those registered present and correct and the clock about to strike eleven the opening chords of On the Road Again signalled the way forward. And what an opener it proved to be as an eager crowd of Saturday shoppers made a snap decision to put on hold their intention to select a gourmet meal from M&S as the quality of the music matched or exceeded the intended moussaka. The spontaneous applause was soon matched by generous donations to the YAA, with one lady dancing over to us waving a five-pound note. Contrasting with this gaiety was one older lady’s response to the opening verse of the more plaintiff tones of Country Roads which had her in tears, clearly pulling at the heart strings in a personal way but she soon recovered her composure and stayed to enjoy the rest of the first set. The power of music in all its moods. There was the odd hiccup as always in a live performance but whenever an error crept in there was renewed whole band determination to make up for it in an instance and so Another Saturday Night hit an even higher bar than usual together with another confident performance of Sunny Afternoon with Return To Sender bringing us seamlessly to the interval.
There was now a chance to discuss serious matters ranging, I dare say from where to go to for some new ankle grazers or wide leg trousers, to Barnsley’s prospects at Leyton Orient to the choice of Sir-Oink-A – Lot as the Monster Raving Looneys candidate for the Gorston by – election.
On the resumption of the music, Mike, having checked that everyone was suitably up-to-date with toilet stops, hydration and medication, hailed the return of Melvyn’s favourite ditty, I’ve Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts, which to be fair was performed with at the very least mock gusto, even though it may not have made it into everyone’s personal top 500 song list or in some cases the Infinity list. In any case the positive vibes continued with a succession of popular songs as people of all ages paused to drink in the eclectic mix on offer with a jaunty rendition of Amarillo sitting comfortably alongside the Smiths number and Wagon Wheel, not forgetting Mike’s chance to showcase his instrumental wizardry with the closing bars of Bad Moon Rising. Our leader also rightly decided to conclude with the song he introduced to the group, Come Up And See Me, which was performed with some aplomb to round off another enjoyable and hopefully financially rewarding morning for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
Many thanks to Mike for heroically stepping into the breach at short notice, to Joe and Roy for setting up, to Richard and Dave for the online support and to our regular supporters including Jenny who as well as being a cheerleader and singing along gives us valuable input as to how things sound from the spectator’s viewpoint. Today, it was a big thumbs up. Jane also attempted two videos, unfortunately experiencing technical issues with Mike’s favourite but achieving earlier success with Amarillo, so thanks to her too.
Next up on Friday, 13th March, we will be doing our best to make it another lucky day at the Ridings at 10:30 for 11a.m.
Malcolm and Beryl
Wakeiele Band featured on the Ridings facebook page after the gig with the following kind words and the two videos linked below: ‘A huge thank you to the amazing Wakeylele Ukulele Band for filling the centre with joy this afternoon! What a fantastic performance’
https://www.facebook.com/ridingscentre/videos/952215613972393
https://www.facebook.com/ridingscentre/videos/1446146270520105