Brilliant, cozy, dramatic, sweaty!
It was loads of fun!
The Sham appeared and David and hung about the tiny stage trying to set up. They seemed rather flustered, and poor Si spent ages trying to get his amp to work. A real gritty basic working men’s club - not quite the venue I expected from the website blurb. The two large speakers were hemming us in on either side.

The bar was full of unforgiving, sceptical but friendly young men, not really ready to listen. After seeing the old David pic on the Cityfest website I was concerned they would be expecting a pop idol with a band behind him. Some converting needed here! One lad stepped right in front of our positions, and we politely (?) asked him to move! We told him we’d travelled from all over to see the band. He asked, 'Where from?' I said Glasgow and Sue from Wales, and Linda piped up from Belgium! I hope that impressed him!

It was a rather peculiar experience standing so close to the guys, as they casually stood around chatting, plugging in amps, shifting wires around, bending over equipment in the close confines of the curtained stage. The Band before them only had two members playing several instruments with foot pedals, the drummer was also playing bass - impressive!

Eventually things started to happen.
David was in his Beatles jacket and looked hot! ‘Is this someone’s house?’ he enquired. The tambourine shaking announced Hiding From Me and the boys fell into their set. We’d secured our place right at the front and so were clearly able to see and hear the band. In fact we could reach out and touch them. Their sound is richer and stronger since I heard them in Glasgow, with Jake’s keyboard playing coming over in a big way. We were thrilled to hear Lazy, a favourite album track, brought to life with the new band sound and driven with a catching falling rhythm. wow.

To our delight the band played the new song 'No More Words'. This new song moved with dramatic and emotional twists, just the kind of song that really suits David heart-wrenching vocals. Can’t wait to hear it again – if only I’d recorded it! This was followed by the personal Star and then the single Goodbye Baby. Their set was too short, but fortunately Roy asked for an encore! David suggested 'Only a Boy' to the others. David sang broke my heart with stirring and powerful emotions. It was a strong performance from the band.

Apparently the boys were expecting a marquee for this festival. David took time to sign autographs. I managed to talk to El and she asked me where I had come from. I gave her a gift I had for David, she was gorgeous as I expected. I also had a lovely chat with Ed, and what a nice guy he is. He said there were more gigs in the pipeline and to keep an eye on the website. I told him how much I enjoyed the acoustic Goodbye Baby and his bongo playing, and he said they recorded it in one take. He said they’d be both writing and playing gigs.

I bought the T shirt, went to Pizza Express, piled into several taxi’s, had a great chat and my minds still in a whirl! I’m addicted and suffering gig fever now! There’s something about Dave that makes us travel miles to hear him.

Big HI to my Sham buddies, great to meet you all and look forward to the next meet up!