Well we have had 4 bookings at the Coorparoo RSL with 4 ticks so well done everyone! Road-Works kicked it all off on Friday the 2nd October with an audience of some 80 people. The band had around 20 friends and family and another dozen Warriors which was terrific. Management were very happy!
On the Saturday night "Delta Express" kept a wonderful volume and played well with around 100 in the audience. There were again around 20 band supporters plus half a dozen Warriors in support. There were a few Rock n Roll Dance Club members disappointed that one of the regular 60/40 bands had been replaced but the RSL is after a younger crowd. (Don't laugh
) We are all going to get some resistance from oler regular members of the club.. shrug!Last Saturday night "Fat Chance" clearly played the music that the dancers could dance to and at one stage had 16 couple up swirling and twirling on the floor. The band did a great job and Alan has a pretty good review of the night in another category on here. They had the crowd up dancing in their 'quiet' set! Food for thought!
Yesterday I was very moved by the amount of support from fellow warriors- there were at least 30 sonething there having a look. A very big thank you to all Warriors that have been along to the RSL to see the bands. It has been a great start and just what we need to make the venue a home for us all.
"Road-Works" opened the batting without their keyboard player, with their lead guitarist getting out of his sick bed to come and play, and with a fill in drummer. We were certainly not at the top of our game but battled through pretty well. Glen, our drummer was great and was debuting outside the Ellaways environment though no one else would have guessed.
Next up was 2XS and the guys did a great job with a mixture of 60's to 90's songs. Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" was a real crowd pleaser. Thanks to Simon for bringing his drums in and to Paul for making his Amp available to the next band. 2XS were very tight and well received by the audience and bar staff.
The last band were young heavy rock band, 'Odinspear'. This was to be their first 'quiet' gig and despite some of the material such as 'Highway to Hell', 'Smoke on the Water' and "Dirty Deeds' only had to be turned down twice
They had a stack of supporters who very vocal and enthusiastic and no doubt the RSL regulars will be talking about them for the next few days. They were great!A general critique of all performances and no one particular band and all in my opinion. There needs to be more engagement with the crowd without too much yap. We need to keep them informed about what we are doing, when we will be back from a break and entertain THEM, not ourselves. There is a huge dance floor and we need to play music they can dance to... if they are up dancing we need to try and keep them up on the floor.
We were all guilty of taking too much time between songs but in part that is due to making sure we don't exceed the noise levels. Lead players need to break the self indulgent habit of turning up too loud. Good bands play as a unit. Good bands are impeded by inconsiderate players. It's a learning curve for Weekend Warrior bands but we need to learn quick. All in all we are doing well and need to keep it up...
Cheers,
Bob
