Loftus Open Acoustic

The Station Hotel, Loftus - September 3rd

This long established Open Acoustic night is by far one of the finest we have had the pleasure of attending, well run and very welcoming, this weekly event is one we would love to get the opportunity to attend more often. Local singer/songwriter Ian Swinburne, his wife Catherine and Tony Leonard are the people responsible for hosting this weekly wonder of acoustic entertainment. Ian takes care of the sound and vision, Catherine helps with the overall organising and welcoming and Tony is the MC and host - a very funny guy who has a fantastic dry sense of humour and great wit. Everybody is welcome and everybody gets the chance to play. A word of advice though get there early - the slots fill up quick and it has been known to go on into the early hours of the morning due to the popularity of the night!

We saw many faces we know tonight and also a few new ones that we would love to get to know! Whilst writing this review it occurs to me that I am not sure of all of the names of the artists who appeared, this event is aimed at absolutely anyone and everyone who wants to get up and play to an appreciative audience regardless of their level - or age! We saw an array of performances from the very young (only 12 years old) to the more mature, from the beginner to the accomplished and all in all it was one of the best nights entertainment we have had the pleasure of attending in a long while!

Performances to note for me personally were those of Christian and Georgia - a young duo from Weardale who I have been mentioning quite a lot of late! A young man aged only 12 who actually brought tears to my eyes when he performed Hallelulia - on his own playing his guitar, it really moved me to see such talent and confidence in one so young. The wonderful Stormcrow who brought the house down recently at Whitby Pirate Day - totally on form as ever and a sheer delight to watch, and an additional pleasure to see Sam Cole perform a couple of her solo songs too. Finally an act we had never seen before but one who we will definately be watching out for, Joe Solo. Joe is all the way from Scarborough and he is in a class all of his own. With a tambourine strapped to his knee maracca's stuffed in his shoe, a harmonica around his neck and playing his guitar whilst he sang, Joe is the epitome of the one man band - absolutely superb! I will never again be able to listen to the Paul Young version of Common People without a smile coming to my face and thinking of Joe performing it in his style! Joe has agreed to come down the The Princess Alice Open Acoustic night on the 25th November where he will be performing a half hour set of his amazing material - don't miss that one!

We stayed right until the end - how could we leave such a fantastic show? - and we will definately be making a point of going along more frequently. Check out the MySpace page of Loftus Open Acoustic where you can see videos of the many performances that have taken place there over the months.

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