by Phillip Barr

Rocking, Rolling, Ridings –

Wakeylele Return!

The band  arrived in town, ready to perform its first gig of the year in what is becoming its second home. However, initial signs were not that promising. Peter, Margaret, and Linda were involved in shenanigans with a dodgy lift; the rhythm section hadn’t yet appeared nor had Richard, who was rushing back from a brave double supermarket shop. This was already in addition to Dave Blackburn missing through loss of voice whilst Carol’s had been intermittently  squeaky and Roy was also making squeaking noises following a nasty chest infection; but more of him later. To make matters worse, Dave Burgess lost his ‘end’ while setting up, but we won’t go into that. Fortunately, all problems were resolved by the start and it was also a relief to know that Rob had recovered from his g – string snapping on Tuesday night painful though that must have been.

As for the rest of the group, Thelma made another welcome appearance and Elsie arrived sparkling,  from head to foot, but otherwise, the chilly temperatures inside the Ridings limited the chances of attracting the shoppers in the way of a colourful display so success rested entirely in the hands of the music and musicians. The well rehearsed segueing from the ‘Wakeylele opener’ to ‘Any Dream Will Do’ got things off to a good start, and generally, the first set went well except for a couple of blips noticeably near the start of ‘Come Up and See Me’ where, for once, David’s timing was a little on the awry side. It could possibly have been part of a cunning plan on his part to see how we would deal with a crisis when a spanner is thrown into the works. More likely, it was due to constantly needing eyes in the side as well as the back of his head because of: a)trying to keep eye contact with the band, while b) glancing down at the music and c)acknowledging the audience at the same time but as far as I know he isn’t a Martian! In any case he and the rest of the band will also be pleased to hear that our film unit reported that, in its/ her opinion, this number stood out as the best in the set because of the confident way it was belted out. 

The timing on resumption also being perfect. We were undoubtedly doing something right as the gallery above us was full of happy looking faces along with plenty of people pausing for a while alongside us and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance stall to listen and applaud our efforts.

So, to the interval and a chance for the disruptive element of the band (Roy) to cause mayhem. Arriving at the café he first managed to wangle a discount on his coffee on the premise that he was part of the band (whose music the cafe couldn’t hear), and then approached a customer wearing a woolly hat, telling her that he liked it and he had got a tea cosy like it at home. Then, to complete the antics, on his way to returning to the ‘stage’, he paused to lean over the balcony to where the band was warming – up and shouted ‘rubbish.’ Wisely ignoring this degenerate behaviour, the band concentrated on the task in hand and resumed proceedings with the aptly named ‘I’m into Something Good’ followed shortly after with ‘Top of the World’. There was also a success with the   emotional rendition of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, calypso style (  the style dubbed temporarily as ‘Bertha’ by David) – in fact, Jane told me afterwards that a YAA volunteer had commented  how good it sounded and (tissues ready) that it made her cry because it had been played at her sister in law’s funeral so take a bow, especially those who played on behalf of Peter Harney; Bertha would also have been pleased.

Of course, on a day of glitches, there had to be one more test of our resolve. A strange noise was heard behind me – I ducked –  followed by Sue oddly singing through part of an instrumental. One of Mags castanets had cracked open,  scattering its grainy contents over herself and Sue as well as the floor, but being the consummate performer that she is, she quickly substituted it for a tambourine and so with one notable exception (Pop receiving a final warning for persistent and deliberate Corporal Jones style final chords),  the gig came to a successful conclusion. 

The usual thanks and appreciation go to  David and to Mike, Jane, and our regular supporters. The Yorkshire Air Ambulance staff welcomed us back in their typical friendly fashion, and the complementary chocolate was very nice too (sorry if you missed out). 

 Next up is the gig at Normanton on Thursday at 2p.m. See David’s latest details due out tomorrow.