Ha!

2 gigs in 2 days? Dear me Quadrophobe must be popular, as we made our second visit back to the Banbury area to partake in one of our most favourite pastimes: drinking. Oh wait, i mean playing tunes. With beer.

So we ventured our way up to Chacombe, 5 of us even squeezing into a single ford focus (it was COSY. a little too cosy…) and eventually found our way, instruments and all. The venue, for those who are intrigued and even for those not intrigued: a country pub in Oxfordshire, parking provided for in a field with a large elongated (look at me and my long words) pub garden. Patio area complete with huge (tasty) barbecue then stretches off into grassy area where the beer tent and adjacent perfomance tent were situated.

We arrived a good 2 hours early and proceeded to settle in: ales (with commemerative pint glass) were purchased, food was eaten and chatting to some of the village residents was done. Just what you want on a Saturday eve. And so Quadrophobe were suitably relaxed, calm, pampered and inebriated to perform (well, I was pretty drunk, I wouldn’t want to speak on behalf of everyone. Except for Jim, he was definitely drunk).

We were fortunate enough not to have to bring any sound equipment with us (as stated, the ford focus of wonder was already packed, never mind if we had to bring amps and all) and so we got the luxury of trying out their system. Did a good job I think: 3 dedicated cound guys catering to all our needs (much appreciated ) and we were all micced (miced? miked?) up and ready for action.

Following a 2 and a half hour session the previous night, we were feeling pretty on the ball. Unfortunately we had to cut it off after 30 minutes (not because we were bad. I don’t think :S), but I for one thought we could have played for another hour: it was tight, it sounded good, the audience were getting involved. Only issue from our perspective was a cutting out of the monitors part way through - made it tricky to tell if brass/vocal levels were there with the rest of it, but as said, had 3 guys keeping an eye and audience reaction was very positive!

I give this gig a B. The amount of playing the night before was really telling - but in a good way! Tight ensemble, energetic performance, and awaitng the invite for next years event.

Adam