Well that was fun! MA did a great set. Sometimes acoustic but more often than not more of a stripped-down electric affair and included (not necessarily in
the right order):
Flowers For Guns (acoustic)
Nowhere To Hide
The Spirit of Autumn Past (a new psychedelic version - I kid you not!)
Evergreen
Caught In A Fold
Heroes Never Die (acoustic)
Autumn Leaves (the Eva Cassidy song, not Jerry Bloom's magazine!)
A Different Sky (first time ever played live)
Livvy sang wonderfully and did a great job standing in for Heather (who was in the unusual position of being in the audience, having taken Harlan to his first gig). The rest of the line-up consisted of Bryan, Andy Smith, Anne-Marie and Robbie Baxter on a slimmed-down drum kit. For those of you who may not recognise the name, you may well have seen Robbie at gigs as normally he's busy helping the Judge as part of the road crew - he just happens to also be a more than capable drummer! Of course Henry (who was also in the audience) will be back for the full band line-up gigs later in the year but was unavailable for the Bad Shepherds dates.
Talking of the Bad Shepherds, they were hugely enjoyable. I didn't know what to expect, although with Troy involved I had no doubt that musically it would be up to scratch. All I can say is that punk songs as folk (and on one occasion vice-versa!) really work. The on-stage banter was also very entertaining (as you might imagine!).
It was good to see a great deal of interest from people unfamiliar with MA and plenty of CD sales from the merch stall as a result (despite the credit crunch!). Yep, definitely a fun night out!
Flowers For Guns (acoustic)
Nowhere To Hide
The Spirit of Autumn Past (a new psychedelic version - I kid you not!)
Evergreen
Caught In A Fold
Heroes Never Die (acoustic)
Autumn Leaves (the Eva Cassidy song, not Jerry Bloom's magazine!)
A Different Sky (first time ever played live)
Livvy sang wonderfully and did a great job standing in for Heather (who was in the unusual position of being in the audience, having taken Harlan to his first gig). The rest of the line-up consisted of Bryan, Andy Smith, Anne-Marie and Robbie Baxter on a slimmed-down drum kit. For those of you who may not recognise the name, you may well have seen Robbie at gigs as normally he's busy helping the Judge as part of the road crew - he just happens to also be a more than capable drummer! Of course Henry (who was also in the audience) will be back for the full band line-up gigs later in the year but was unavailable for the Bad Shepherds dates.
Talking of the Bad Shepherds, they were hugely enjoyable. I didn't know what to expect, although with Troy involved I had no doubt that musically it would be up to scratch. All I can say is that punk songs as folk (and on one occasion vice-versa!) really work. The on-stage banter was also very entertaining (as you might imagine!).
It was good to see a great deal of interest from people unfamiliar with MA and plenty of CD sales from the merch stall as a result (despite the credit crunch!). Yep, definitely a fun night out!
