The Vuvzelas at The White Hart last night
I was deputieless last night, so purely on a whim (and quite intrigued), decided to take myslf off to The White Hart, Royton, as it was reasonably close to me.
Never been to the pub before - it's a good size, with a small stage for the band and a decent range of beers on. The landlord (Mark) is very friendly; apparently he'd booked the band last minute after being let down.
When I got there the guys were setting up (last ten minutes of the USA match - ha ha ha!), but I managed to have a quick chat with them
Ben on lead vox and guitar
Ian on bass and vox
Al on drums and vox
They seemed nice enough, but then, without even a sound check, they launched into their first set.
Now I have stated on several occasions that I have never yet seen a bad band off NWB. Oops!
It was glaringly obvious that these guys have never practised. Not only was the sound unbalanced, with the vocals too low in the mix and the guitar far too high, but half the time it didn't even sound like they were playing the same song!
I don't think Ben managed to sing the right lyrics to any of the songs (even though he had a music stand of lyrics), and then cracked jokes with the audiance as if this was a good thing!
Al kept missing drums and hitting his mike stand, and quite obviously had no idea how to end tracks (I think the solo at the end of Johnny B. Goode probably ran for the best part of 5 minutes!)
Ian was the best of the bunch, but that may have been because I could hardly hear him.
They tried to put harmonies in. I'll leave it at that.
Regardless of the glazed expresiions and stunned increduality of most of the pub,the table full of WAGS in the corner cheered and clapped every effort, but by half time most of the punters had left. Al even cracked a joke about that ('looks like we got rid of most of them!').
Second set was, unfortunatly, more of the same.
This is exactly the kind of unproffessional and offhand performance that gets pub bands a bad name.
I know some of you will feel that I shouldn't have posted this, but I have always said I am an honest reviewer, and that cuts both ways.
'The Vuvzelas' - please stop.
Alyerdisapointedpal