Spiers and Boden, Good Old Way Folk Club

My 100th Post!It was my, Bill’s, Other Val’s and Matt’s first time at our very own folk club of which we are members. People seemed friendly without being too OTT. The room, in the Guildford Institute building of the University of Surrey, was rather small but decorated with interesting pictures, and retaining quite a lot of original ‘Art Nouveau’ features. A grand piano stood at the ‘stage’ end, leaving not a lot of room for any big bands! There were bottles of Hogs Back TEA available, but the catch was, there were no beer glasses! Drinking a bottle-conditioned beer from the neck without drinking any of the sediment proved to be a bit of a challenge.
The first floor-spot was a very traditional singer, so I hoped that wasn’t going to be the tone of the folk club. Next came Spiers and Boden, who were fabulous, with many new songs from their album appropriately entitled ‘Songs’ (we bought a copy which Jon and John signed for us). They too are a very ‘traditional’ act, but they don’t perform the songs 100% ‘straight’, adding a certain something to them which makes them catchy and enjoyable. They are usually quite gory as well. Was whistling the song about chopping up the
wild woman for ages afterwards!
The next floor spot, to my delight, was Anna Tabbush, who helps run the club. I have a CD of her in ‘Meridian’, called ‘Prime’ – her vocals are amazing. She also teaches R & B – bit different from folk music!
More Spiers and Boden, had a bit of a sing, especially ‘Happy Birthday’ to one of the other folkies who had travelled a long way to see the lads. Only a matter of time before they need a fan club!
Didn’t win anything on the raffle, but there’s plenty of time. Now we are regulars, we are sure to win more ;-)