a review of last night @ the Royal Oak in Failsworth
Given that one of our guitarists left the band last week with no notice we were left wondering how the hell we were going to pull off this weekends gigs - of course we don't like cancelling gigs unless absolutely necessary (is that spelt right?). After an emergency rehearsal on Monday we decided to go ahead with our gig at the Royal Oak in Failsworth last night and what a good decision. I can only thank Phil our remaining guitarist for busting a gut this week to help make last night a success, from where I was behind the kit there didn't seem to be any gaps in sound and Phil pulled off all the lead parts in the songs where we'd always sworn we needed that extra guitarist. Needless to say he saved our ass, the question of whether we'll recruit a fith member now remains to be seen but we haven't really had time to discuss it yet.
Ok the venue itself. The Royal Oak is situated about a mile from the Oldham junction in Failsworth, it's quite a big pub with the bands setting up at one end with plenty of space for gear etc. It reminds me of the White Hart layout with long bar down one side but on a smaller scale. The only thing is that the toilets are down that end so people we're having to pass right by us to go for a 4x3, however with the amount of good looking ladies passing we didn't mind at all. There is a big car park to the side and unloading is easy enough through the main front doors, it's quiet early doors when setting up anyway.
Stuart the landlord was telling us he's had the pub since February and successfully turned it around, and is still a work in progress. His commitment to his work was defintely noticable and was very helpful in making us feel comfortable, they even moved a slot machine to accommodate one of our PA stands lol. He explained they don't have bands on every week just every now & again but will hopefully be looking to put more on in the future - I obviously mentioned NWB as his first port of call.
The great thing about this place is it's always busy and with different age ranges so I can defintely see any type of band playing here and going down well. You've got your 40 odds bouncing around like their 15 again and the younger ones just as eager to enjoy themselves (apart from one chav who asked us at the end if we played any R Kelly WTF??). One guy said there were a lot of people not out because they were going to the football this morning so god knows how busy it usually is. Anyway, it was really good see an appreciate crowd and I hope we get to go back next year.
So if/when Stuart starts looking to put more bands on it's defintely a good venue to get on at.
Here's a few pics...
