Well I'm in the odd surroundings of Guisboroughs wannabe venue Bar 44..
The place does host a weekly band night on a wednesday evening, but has been surrounded by stories of ripping bands off type activity since day 1, and this seems to be the theme of the night as the bands are made to pay for the PA hire out of their own pockets, as well as playing for free and being forced to play for 20 mins each in some sort of conveyer belt of bands for just over an hour...
The night kicks off with the ever dependable Just About Done ripping through as many songs as they can without upsetting the management, but still doing a great job of entertaining.
Next up we see Jetpacks For Hire, a local band that have recently lost the services of a rhythm guitarist, so i'm looking forward to seeing what kind of progress the band have made since becoming a 3 piece.
The bass player dedicates the entire set to the bar manager "Benni" and his "shit suit", before diving into what is probably the best set I've seen them play to date, hopefully we'll see a little more of this band if they can get it sorted out...
Finally another band that have just lost a member, An American Obsession.The band had departed with singer Phil a few days before this gig, so a number of people were looking forward to the new sound, and the difference was almost amazing.
Vocals are now the duty of Cal the guitarist, happy to admit to not being a singer he certainly gave it his all, tearing through the bands back catalogue like they had been doing this for months, another improved band by the lack of former members..
This gig shouldn't have worked, 3 bands, 1 hour 15mins, no soundchecks, no messing about, but to all the bands credit they got on with it, paid the PA costs while the bar charged entry and made money on the bar, they should be ashamed of themselves..
Whilst I may not be bothering to attend this "venue" again, I'm looking forward to seeing how all the bands progress over the coming months...
Richard
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