Let me set the scene for you: Twas a dark and windy afternoon, Saturday 23rd November, when The Reggulites set out on their quest to Biggleswade.
This blog will be conducted in a Lord of the Rings style. I'll replace any names with something ridiculous.
"It's a dangerous business, fam, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might get swept off to"
In other words, Bert was having a right go and it was windy as heck. Not particularly brilliant weather to drive or travel in, but we made the most of the journey by, would you believe it, listening to ourselves on CD. The Space Waggin (Galaxy) was all vocals and trumpet. Everyone else was travelling from elsewhere, and were probably not listening to us!
It was already pitch black dark night by the time we reached Biggleswade, but it was a fairly pleasant journey and we managed to park right next to the venue, so we were pretttty happy about that. We were greeted by Teebs, Angus, Harry and Charlie Moore Charlie Moore, and inside was Grandad and Breb, working hard and being wonderful.
Teebs wasn't feeling too great - it is 'going round' at the moment! So we made sure to make the sign of the cross at him and douse him with holy water, lest he infect us all with his plague.
“I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew:
Of wind I sang, a wind there came and in the branches blew."
We did an awesome soundcheck and everything sounded lovely jubbly. Dawn took a video of Angus playing a snippet of Hotel California solo which is doing the rounds on socials at the moment. We're very spoilt and lucky to have him! Everything was straightened out well, we ran through a few slip up points, as you do, and then it was time to remove ourselves whilst the people of Biggleswade arrived.
“Well, I am going back into the open air, to see what the wind and sky are doing!”
This was a stupid idea had by myself and Teebs. We discovered that the wind was still chronic and the sky was doing sky water on us tremendously. All hope of fresh air was soon abandoned by the over thirties. However, some of the young ones ventured to a nearby food establishment for nourishment. The young are so often the bravest amongst us. I'm really getting into this Tolkien thing, aren't I?
“NO ADMITTANCE EXCEPT ON PARTY BUSINESS.”
I think Biggleswade may have gotten the message. When we were called onto stage, there were a room full of happy, smiley faces. Sugar did an interesting thing and asked how many people were there to see us for the first time. I don't think he's ever done that before. Loads of people put their hands up! Yay, new friends! I asked how many people had seen us too many times, and there were two infamous and fabulous people who put their hands up for that - thank you Andy and Suzanne!!
We started the show with some upbeat Tarrus Riley, being sure to complete the several bits of choreography Anna has composed for us. Simple and effective, hopefully! We've had good feedback so far!
We structured our set so that it gave a nice and easy start to the night, where people who didn't know us so well could really use the venue to their advantage and just take a seat and listen to what we do. Obviously, anyone who knows us knows we are not as easy going in the second set and that your feet will hurt. But there was no stopping Andy and Suzanne - they were up on their feet from song one!
“...as young and as ancient as Spring....”
And so it was time for the break. The staff at The BiGG Theatre were really lovely, kept us informed and made sure we were all on the same page about everything. The audience members that we spoke to were extremely nice as well. Sometimes you get that atmosphere in certain places where you know there's no negativity and everyone is just enjoying themselves, and The BiGG Theatre is definitely one of them. It's laid out really well, too. The stage is plenty big enough and back dropped. In front is the dancefloor that was fully and continuously occupied by Suzanne and Andy and then there were tables and chairs and rows of theatre style seats, too. It made it a wonderful and tiered audience that was cosy and intimate without being overbearing. Fully into The BiGG Theatre!
“He drew a deep breath. 'Well, I'm back,' he said.”
When we were announced back onto stage, the vocals and Angus gave their harmonious rendition of 'Night Nurse' by Gregory Isaacs. Incidentally, I always write a few notes for the show where we give some facts about the songs and the artists whose music we're performing, and I happened to fall down a bit of a rabbit hole with Mr Isaacs. The man had a very interesting and varied musical and personal life. Maybe I'll do a blog about it in the future.
Anyway, we were back with a bang! The second set doesn't give much of a chance to calm down, does it? And why would you? Biggleswade showed us they were as much about the dancing as the listening! We played bangers. I gave Sugar a rest by introducing the Barrington Medley while he had a drink, because back-to-back Reggulites medleys are some serious singing, and I thought I'd be nice for a change. I don't usually speak on the mic, but I think they understood me...despite the Black Country of it all.
Angus absolutely annihilated Hotel California, and yes, we are aware that he's the coolest bean to ever grace the Earth. Harry smashed the drums, literally. Charlie Moore Charlie Moore (to 'Tell Me More' from Grease) was just grooving and Teebs was putting in all those sweet moments. Dawn delivered Who Knows perfectly, too! The second set is just so much fun!
“Don’t adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on the story.”
Before we knew it, it was the end of the night. We had so many lovely messages from the crowd afterwards, so I think we may have made some new buddies over in Biggleswade. It took around 2.5 hours to get home, I think. Maybe a little less. I'm aware that after a gig people who aren't driving like to rest, and I'm never driving, but I can't rest in the car so everyone was subjected to me talking random crap until we arrived back home. Sorry about it.
Thank you to anyone who came to see us in Biggleswade, first time or not!
Thank you to the management of The BiGG Theatre for inviting us to be a part of the incredible work you're doing at your venue. We really dig it!
“...and all the stars flowered in the sky.”
We're also extremely happy to see how many people have supported our newest album Roots Reboots! Monday just gone, the first batch flew the nest to go to their homes all over the country, and we're both proud and humbled. Positivity cannot be denied!
If you haven't got yours yet, there are a few left!
And please do check out:
Our sound engineers, dB Acoustics
The venue, The BiGG Theatre
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