Open mic night at The Angel Inn, Worcester - 21.02.12
One of my favourite open mics of the last year-or-so has been the regular Tuesday bash at the Angel Inn hosted by Tina V - the fabulous frontgirl of This Wicked Tongue. Sadly the venue itself has now decided to shut up shop - but Tina has pledged to continue this heartwarming venture elsewhere - but what a fantastic crowd to give The Angel Open a final party!
Of course Tina, herself, kicked off proceedings with a piano and guitar-accompanied solo set of originals and tasteful covers before introducing ex-Jimmy Nylon frontman Connor Maher for a typically manic but amazing rendition of whatever took his fancy.
Tina's one of the judges on the local Text Factor compo - and she's always encouraging participating acts to get some more much-needed practice at events like this - so credit to Fi Dobbs and Kyle for turning up and giving it a go - things can only get better.
A big up to Loren of my latest faves Done By Sunrise for insisting on taking part despite near-terminal voice-failure - but great to hear The Cover Junkies Jay and Eli (joined by superhero Kiwi Terry Walls) perform a very rare outing of the Kinky Turtle song - which tickled Angel regular Craigus Barry so much that he himself delivered quite the most crowd-pleasing set I've seen this musical enigma dispense in many a year.
I last caught the Ledbury-based frontman Mike Knowles of metal outfit Black Sheep in Mamma Jammas in Hereford a few months ago - very impressive! Mike also came along to our recording session at The Hatch Studio in Tenbury Wells last year and played a few moody numbers as we we were packing up our equipment - it just seemed right at the time.
Mike has moved on since then - and I can only recommend that you immediately locate this performance YouTube - as while it's completely unbroadcastable due to the content - if you're of a somewhat broad-minded disposition, it may well be the best act you'll see this year!
A wonderful free-form jam to close off events at The Angel before Tina moves this sparkly event to a licensed venue with a slightly better life-expectancy - a great send-off for a place that perhaps without so many completely irrelevant distractions - could've been one of the main players on the local music scene.
11 Nov 2012
- From the section Hereford & Worcester