casapete

Not with you on the Chris De Burgh one, but the Leona Lewis is ace!

Love this, and also Keith Richard's version too.

Beat me to it! Love this tune, with a healthy load of Steve Van Zandt & E Street Band input too. Also anything off the Phil Spector Christmas album, and of course Bruce’s version of ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’ always makes me smile.

Chuck Berry springs to mind, but struggling for any more. Think 'What I'd say' by Ray Charles may also qualify?

Christmas party / charity function at an old theatre in West Yorkshire. Abysmal weather getting there and back, but a lovely gig. We did it last year and had loads of people coming up to say they’d only come because we were playing which was nice - they were a drunken lot though! Heavily raked stage meant that after a few songs I was nearly floored by my Barefaced Compact / GK amp that had walked downstage behind me! Kept having to push it back into place during the first set with my foot, but managed to secure it ( wedged with a speaker cover ) for the second set. Got in at 3am, knackered.

Both good amps. Have had units from both manufactures (to be fair just amp head versions of each though) and thought they each had great qualities. The Trace was loud, heavy, reliable, easily repaired and sounded good. The Hartke was loud, reliable and sounded great (to me warmer and more the tone I was looking for). In combo form I’m guessing you are probably looking at either 1x15 or 4x10 versions of both. I would prefer the Trace speakers over the Hartke ones, but ultimately would prefer to have a separate amp head and then choose what cab to pair with it. ( I know you said the weight thing wasn’t an issue but honestly you may not think that after regularly dragging one up a few flights of stairs.)

Love that song, used to do it in my country band.

If you want to go down the powered speaker route, then I can recommend the Alto TX215 active cabs. Brand new these are around £350 a pair, leaving £150 for a small s/h mixer and stands/leads.

Okay, I’ll start this. Look for a s/h Yamaha EMX512SC powered mixer amp. These are great - lightweight, reliable , 8 channels with good built in FX and can be had s/h for £250 or less if you’re lucky. Pair this with a pair of s/h speakers from a respected maker such as Yamaha, Alto, JBL etc which you should also be able to find for £200. This leaves £50 for a s/h pair of stands and some speaker leads and you’re done!

Blimey, so many to choose from. It would have to be something / someone really important for me from all the years I've been in bands, so probably 'Honky Tonk Woman' with the Stones, just to play with Charlie and Keith in particular. Failing that, playing anything with Bruce Springsteen / Steve Van Zandt / Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes would be great, as I could probably wing most of their tunes without too much trouble!

Mrs CP watches Strictly regularly and I must admit ( if I’m not working ) I do too. Trevor Barry is a great player and I really enjoy listening to him and the rest of the band, although occasionally one of the female vocalists can be a bit err...’pitchy’ I believe is the modern term. That aside, Dave Arch does an amazing job with the band each week with such a wide variety of styles to tackle, and it is to the show’s credit that they continue to use a decent sized live band when recorded backing tracks seem to be so prevalent on TV and in the theatre these days. Long may it continue!

Stand looks great VFM Stew, it just says unsuitable for nitro finish instruments. This will be down to the foam they use which reacts with nitro finishes and damages the guitar where it touches. I’ve seen a few Gibsons with marks on the neck and base where this has happened. See if you can check the spec of any instruments you have to ensure this isn’t the case. These days most basses and guitars tend to have poly finishes which won’t be affected by this, but some companies like Gibson still uses nitro for their instruments. Fender Custom Shop stuff use it for authenticity too, not sure about Gretsch but would imagine their top end stuff may be nitro as well.

Not suitable for nitro finishes though, so take care out there.

I’ll see your shoe and raise you a dart flying past us into the back wall behind the band, honest! (Rough nightclub in Hull in the late 70’s)

It was actually a denim shirt over a t-shirt! He was originally down to play a couple of songs but must have been okay with things as he stayed on till the encore.

Think all the band has been suffering from it. I went on their tour bus and was worried about picking it up myself! Nice people though, all really friendly. There are some clips of EC playing with them on YouTube now.

Apologies for the picture quality - combination of their rather dark stage and my lousy phone!

I'm a massive EC fan but never knew this! TBH Eric was a bit outside his comfort zone I think, although still managed to sound fantastic. Friend of mine has been doing sound for Hawkwind and alerted me to it happening. I got to watch from the wings, and chat with EC and his tech guy before he went on. Both lovely down to earth people, joking with the crew and not at all 'big time'. I have some photos which I'll try to add later.

Hawkwind tonight at Guildford. Not seen them before but had a tip off there would be a very special guest joining them, which turned out to be correct - Eric Clapton! I was watching from the side of the stage, and he walked in with his guitar tech and stood next to me so I had a brief chat. Then he joined the band onstage for around 6 songs including ‘Silver Machine’ and an encore. They say never meet your heroes, but I was blown away by seeing someone up close I’ve followed since the late 60’s. He looked in good health too, and played great, using a black maple neck Strat into a Fender Bandmaster 3x10 combo. Apparently EC and Dave Brock go back a long way, and Eric was asked to play with the band at the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow night, which he was unable to do so opted to do tonight instead. Local gig for him too!

In my function band days this saved many a gig from being tedious for me....

A tough call Lozz, but the right one. Wishing you better health and plenty more gigs that suit your circumstances in the near future. All the best.

Although never been particularly hung up on lyrics, I’ve always appreciated songwriters who connect with me on whatever level. Step forward Chuck Berry, Bruce Springsteen, Ray Davies, and Carole King amongst many others. Doesn’t always have to be clever, just ‘right’ if you get my drift. Couple them with a killer tune and it’s job done.

I don’t think EC’s Rainbow Concert was a benefit for Ronnie, although it may have been recorded using his mobile studio set up? You’re maybe thinker of the later performances in the early 80’s, known as the ARMS (Action into Research for Multiple Sclerosis) charity concerts which involved Ronnie, who sadly suffered from MS. Think it was a handful of gigs played at The Albert Hall and some in the US which featured EC and many other famous players including Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page , Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts. I had a copy on VHS back then! Ronnie’s old band Slim Chance coincidentally have recently reformed and toured in the UK, performing some of Ronnie’s material as well as some new stuff too. I missed them when they played near me, but hope to catch them soon.

Just for balance - my 63 Precision spent a few years in a loft before I rescued it. It was in a (crappy to be fair) hard case. The frets had turned green, fingerboard heading that way and the old refinish was cracked and lifting off into scrolls, like when you strip wallpaper. To be fair the neck was fairly stable though! I think as others have said it depends on how long and the condition of the loft in question. Lofts tend to be prone to extremes of temperature, boiling in summer / freezing in the winter months, and sometime both within 24 hrs, so I would imagine it's these changes of temperature and humidity that do the damage. You'll probably be okay for a short spell at this time of year I would imagine, but I wouldn't recommend it as a longer term thing.

My thunder was very near choclatey when I saw the price....😂