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"The Jake Thackray Experience" will be appearing as part of the
Holmfirth Festival of Folk (http://www.holmfirthfestivaloffolk.co.uk).
We’ll be upstairs at the White Hart on Saturday 6 May from about 19.30
and will be performing 30 or so of Jake’s songs. I think entry will be
free (although you are likely to be asked for a donation for expenses) and possibly unticketed.Those of you who have been to any Jakefests or the like will recognise
most of the performers and we’d be happy to see any of you there!Ian
Could you send a PDF of that natty little poster you have designed and I’ll stick it on the wall at my folk group. My email info@airsportstraining.co.uk
Cheers.
John T.
Holmfirth was the first invited show the group has done, and it was a great success. I’d had some doubts earlier on Saturday, the sound system was used by Silverwheel, probably the loudest folk band you are likely to hear, and I figured the mics would be well desensitised. The venue is a room above a pub with a small main area and an adjacent overflow area. However, fears were allayed, the show came over really well.
There were several new discoveries. Ian, Malcy and Paul worked up three previously unheard pieces from the new compilation CD (Famous People, My Pipe, My Boots, Milord and Family Grave), they are brilliant songs, it will be interesting to find out why they were never released. And as Malcy said, they could easily have been three other new songs. Secondly, Ian introduced a double bass player, Hugh Bradley. The songs he played on were immediately enhanced, hopefully he will be a regular at fests to come. And David Shaw-Parker, he with the Equity card, did the best On Again On Again I have heard done live. It was rivetting!
Since the show was part of a folk festival, people were coming and going, but I estimate there were over 150 at the peak during the second half. Some were not sure what they’d wandered into, but many were very taken by hearing Jake’s music again for the first time in many years. CD sales were almost brisk, the number sold quite respectable.
I never fail to be impressed by the standard our singers have now reached, they have mastered the technique of keeping the tempo, yet making every line and word count. I think Jake would have had a curmudgeonly smile to himself, at the very least. There is certainly a sense of achievement that the aims of the group are being fully realised, with the recent release of all Jake’s recorded material, and the increasing exposure of his work to the wider audience. That it was done by such a loosely organised but highly focused bunch of folks is also a source of great satisfaction.
David
Post edited by: Gordon, at: 2006/05/08 13:36
Post edited by: dmcgovern, at: 2006/05/09 08:15
It was a great evening, all told. It was great fun to have a go at and hear the unreleased songs and get that totally fresh audience response to them: when last (if ever) were Famous People, Family Grave and My Pipe played?
A wonderful unexpected bonus for me was getting the chance to perform accompanied by Hugh on double bass. The audience took some time to warm up (the front few rows were full of Thackray fans, judging by how many were mouthing the words), but once it got into its stride there was no stopping it: one lady was so enthusiastic about Tony’s performance that she removed the shirt from his back!
Paul
Post edited by: Paul, at: 2006/05/08 21:15
dmcgovern wrote:
Holmfirth was the first invited show the group has done, and it was a great success. ….. (and the rest)
Thanks, David, for that report. It’s good to get one so quickly, and to know that all went well. I hadn’t really taken in the fact that the group was invited – let’s hope it has set a great precedent. I think the Project has achieved a good deal in 4 years and congratulations are due all round.
:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:
Judith wrote:
Thanks, David, for that report. It’s good to get one so quickly, and to know that all went well. I hadn’t really taken in the fact that the group was invited
To be scrupulously honest I asked the organisers if they would like to invite us and they did so with alacrity. The exposure we got, though, shows signs of producing some further invitations.
A number of things made it special including the number of people who had travelled to Holmfirth and the festival specifically to hear us which was very gratifying. I’ll leave it to others to comment on the show – I’m hardly objective!
Ian
aliasmacalias wrote:
To be scrupulously honest I asked the organisers if they would like to invite us and they did so with alacrity. The exposure we got, though, shows signs of producing some further invitations.
Obviously a very good move, then, Ian. That’s what promotion is all about !
🙂 🙂 🙂This is a slightly fuller version of my thoughts with a couple of days’ perspective – although it is hard for me to be objective.
I think that I can say without hesitation that, particularly in the second half, it was the best show which we as a group have done (I exclude York from this because (a) it wasn’t a show and (b) it had an emotional subtext which sets it apart).
*All of our performers were on their very best form.
*David Shaw-Parker made it along and was righteningly good.
*John Watterson came along for the first time since York and was even better than I remember him.
*A lady at the front who had been singing along with gusto accosted Tony Cima at the end and demanded (and got) his Jake T-Shirt.
*Hugh Bradley had emailed me before hand: he has learned Alan Williams’ double bass lines to a large number of Jake’s songs and sat in on number of songs. You would never know that we’d only known him for an hour and he is likely now to become a permanent
feature. The addition of the double bass alone raised the standard of the performance/sound. Hugh also did the sound and borrowed my guitar to turn in a cracking "Jumble Sale"
*Hugh and David Shaw Parker did a version of I Stayed Off Work Today in the first half which was so good that if I’d been on a seat I would have fallen off it. Personally, it forced me consciously to raise my game for the second half. Their "On Again" in the second half was breathtaking.
*We had an absolutely cracking folk festival audience who laughed uproariously and set up the kind of positive feedback which lifted all of us for the second half. People had travelled to Holmfirth specifically to be at the show and the front of
the room was full an hour before we started with people who didn’t want to run the risk of not getting a seat at the front. One bloke was crying with laughter and overwhelmed by hearing the songs again.
*Many people commented how good it was for them to hear Jake’s songs live again.
*Many people were in the hall when we soundchecked the ensemble version of the Bull; I asked them to remember the chorus for later – and boy did they! A room full of emotionally charged fans and wandering folkies with no inhibitions about joining in raised the roof with it for the show closer.On Sunday afternoon we had an extra 25 minutes or so on the main theatre stage. Again this went down very well – I was off the stage for most of it watching the audience, many of whom had no idea who we were or who Jake was – and they were guffawing with the best of them and, again, gave hearty participation to The Bull. As we left a local folk club organiser asked for details if they wanted to book us.
We also had a specific request from an audience member to arrange something in Kent which I’ll try and inverstigate – if anyone reading this has any ideas then please contact me.
It was a great weekend – and what’s more one of the other performers was a woman I last saw in 1979 when I was at University with her then husband.
Ian
Post edited by: aliasmacalias, at: 2006/05/09 22:46
Post edited by: aliasmacalias, at: 2006/05/10 11:01
‘Twas a night to remember! Top marks to Ian for sorting things out for the weekend.
Thanks to everyone who let me join in performing Jake’s songs on the double bass.. this was an opportunity I have waited a long time for! Also many thanks for all the positive comments after the event.
Ian, I think you made a comment that any proceeds from CD sales were to go towards funding the BBC archive release fees. How far down the line is that, or is there already another discussion ongoing?
Marvellous to meet all who turned out for this weekend; see you again in Scarborough!
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