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John Crook Theatre, Halliford School, Shepperton
6th May 2006

Review by Lindsay Sorrell

Had a really enjoyable evening at the John Crook theatre, Shepperton yesterday – Brian and Cathryn were both in fine form and a very large turn out gave the last gig of the current tour a terrific atmosphere. The theatre itself was a pleasant venue - part of a school actually - we knew in advance that the only beverages on offer would be fruit juices and water…but need not have feared, an extremely large gathering made up for any lost drinking time at the bar in The Red Lion a few yards away straight after the gig, which stayed open until around midnight I believe.

I didn't get a chance to ask Brian how his thumb has been lately unfortunately, so packed out was the party gathering in Brian's local afterwards, but from his playing, which was exquisite throughout the gig, I assume it must be holding up.  Cathryn told some very funny stories and managed to raise several laughs
following a sound problem in one song - there was a lot of banter throughout the show which pleasantly added to the musical offerings.  I was really pleased to hear her sing "Genevieve" again, a song I first heard when they played at Dartford folk club a few weeks back, and "I Will" was another which I felt stood out last night, though every single song was sung with a great deal of passion.  Love the "Pocahontas" song too.  Three different musicians joined them onstage for various songs – Nick Evans, who I've heard sing and play guitar several times before – sang "A Little Way Further Down the Road" as a duet with Cathryn which was great to hear; a friend of Brian's who played sax – think his name was Mick ( its Mark .... Sue )Pickup?  Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure you will, half of Witchwood were there so I'm sure someone will, and Dennis ______ (quiz time again, who can fill in the missing blank!) ( it's Bryon .... Sue) who played in Amen Corner and the Bee Gees – all added their different talents and plenty of variety along the way.

Lovely to see so many friends there and make some new ones too – Cathryn told me of her planned comings and goings back and forth to Nashville and I confess it all seemed clear at the time but I'm a
bit confused now – I think the next round of UK gigs are planned for July, however, so hopefully there'll be an excuse for another evening of similarly fine music and bonhomie.

Thanks Lindsay for the above review.

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By way of explanation for those who were not at the gig, pictures of Dennis "playing" a fire extinguisher were inspired by the following tale:

Brian joked about Dennis having been drummer with the BeeGees saying " what do you call a man who hangs around with musicians ? - A drummer ! " he continued that Dennis was so fed up of being the brunt of jokes that he decided to learn to play a couple of other instruments, so he took him to a friends music shop in LA. After looking around Dennis is purported to have said " I want to buy that red sax and the accordion over there" to which the shop owner replied " you are welcome to the fire extinguisher, but the radiator has to stay here ! " Personally I think the choice of the red sax was an inspired move Dennis!!
 

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