Thursday 5 February 2009

Jam Nights - Better Than Karaoke?


I had a great evening yesterday. I visited a pub that had a Jam night on. Basically a couple of local musicians had set their gear up, small PA, a drum kit, amps for the guitars and 3 mics. At 8-30 when I arrived there was no-one in the pub, but by 9-30 the place was packed with punters, several bands and their friends and family. This is a Wednesday evening by the way when Liverpool and Everton are playing in the cup and no sign of a big screen!

The proceedings began with the guys who owned the gear performing 3 songs and then inviting other bands to get up and do likewise. I was asked along because one of the bands is losing its bass player and looking for a replacement and at this present moment I am bandless!! It was good to get up, not having met the guys before and playing "Wish You Were Here"and "Comfortably Numb" by The Floyd and "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi (sorry about the last one, but beggars can't be choosers and we'd had no rehearsal). The band are called Big W and are an excellent covers band from Leigh in Lancashire. I thoroughly enjoyed the songs we played, Cheers guys.

After Big W the other bands got up and did their stuff and a great night was had by all.

The whole point of me telling you this is that, in these times of the "credit crunch" people will still turn out, on a freezing cold mid-week evening, (when the footie's on), to be entertained by some excellent Live Music. In my view it was far better than the endless karaoke most pubs seem obligated to put on these days, plus the younger bands get to play and gain some valuable experience in front of a packed house. Everyone's happy - including the pub.

I know people love to sing on Karaoke, but why not sing with a Live Band, its far better. Get onto your local landlord and ask him to give it a go and support the local music scene and Live Music.

The Pub in question was The Plough in Hindley, Wigan.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Chris,
Can't say enough about live music anywhere,it's just brill. Glad you had a good time,I sometimes wish I was good enough to do that,but I need a bit more practice yet.Sadly,there isn't a lot near by to us,we have to travel a bit to get decent live music,good job Jan doesn't drink much.

Andy T

Leisl said...

Personally, I will always take live music over karaoke. Always.

Judy Pancoast said...

This sounds like a blast...wish there was a club near here (New Hampshire/Greater Boston) doing it!