Author |
Thread: The night they hit the pheasantry! 18th June 2023 (Read 1418 times) |
|
Seán Kelly
MV Fixture
Posts: 236
|
 |
The night they hit the pheasantry! 18th June 2023
« : 19.06.23 at 16:26 » |
Quote
|
OK Gang – here’s the news. Pin back your ears and listen to me tellin’ it to ya. Last night Wallace & Atkin hit town round Chelsea way and boy they took no prisoners. They worked the old One-Two: First Atkin would start up on the old acoustic guitar, softly strumming and gently singing and generally lulling the audience into a fine old reverie and then as the tune came round again Wallace would hit the old Joanna with a few chords of pure magisterial confidence which had the audience like putty in his hands. By the time Atkin took a break from singing and Wallace had sent out a free-floating tumbling piano solo the pair of them could do no wrong in the eyes of this crowd.
Time and time again they worked this trick and just when you thought the Messieurs and the Dames in the audience would have got wise to it they rang the changes and Atkin hopped over to tinkle the ivories for a surprise number about some Dame in a Hot Ride heading out of Notting Hill in the Rain.
These guys have been working together so long they are like an old team – and it was great to hear the news that they have already recorded an album together which is due out later this year (I better not spill all the beans on that one. I don’t want Mr Atkins sending the boys round. Ha imagine me opening the door to someone looking like Mr Spedding - with a guitar case under his arm – you bet I’d be trembling!!
Back to Atkin and Wallace - they had to perform in front of what you could only call a "solid purple cyclorama" although sometimes it was also pink. The Pheasantry has clearly spent some big moulah on ...er jazzing itself up big time - which refurbishment explained the postponed previous date (and also scotched the rumours that some guy with a crown had objected to competition on his special day!).
Anyway... ok, ok I know you want the setlist – so here it is:
Is It Just The Way You Are [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar]
Practical Man [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar]
Session Man’s Blues [Simon on Piano]
Senior Citizens [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar] My notes say it began almost as a recitative and then “took flight” as Simon came in at “It’s So Easy When We’re Young…” [Pete had already explained how the form was based on an old show song with an unmetered introductory verse]. [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar]
Canoe [Simon on Piano]
Rain Wheels [Pete on Piano]
Road Of Silk [Simon on Piano]
Wristwatch For A Drummer [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar] a popular choice with the crowd. A song I haven’t heard live for a very long time
Cottonmouth [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar]
Together At Last [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar]
-Interval-
Time To Burn [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar]
Ice Cream Man [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar]
An Empty Table [Simon on Piano] Such a powerful version with Pete able to concentrate solely on singing. Just great stuff!
The Luck Of The Draw [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar? my notes fail me sorry]
History and Geography [Simon on Piano]
Screenfreak [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar]
Flowers and The Wine [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar]
Beware of the Beautiful Stranger [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar]
ENCORE : Have You Got a Biro [Simon on Piano – Pete on Guitar]
Well I think that’s just about right – any corrections welcomed. I think/hope I have caught every song played - although I may have muddled the order up a bit by sometimes being late making notes -well, I was enjoying myself! It was a great night and Pete and Simon are just so sympatico [mind you Simon would obviously be a brilliant accompanist for anyone!]. Big thanks to them both and to all at the Pheasantry for another great evening with a lovely warm audience. Hope to see you all next time !
|
« Last Edit: 19.06.23 at 16:36 by Seán Kelly »  |
https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=App&action=display&num=1687188382&start=0#0  |
|
|
|
Carole
MV Fixture
Posts: 132
|
|
Re: The night they hit the pheasantry! 18th June 2023
« Reply #1: 20.06.23 at 01:18 » |
Quote
|
Seán, great review and fab photos, as always! Thank you very much! 
|
| |
https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=App&action=display&num=1687188382&start=1#1 |
|
|
|
Seán Kelly
MV Fixture
Posts: 236
|
|
Re: The night they hit the pheasantry! 18th June 2023
« Reply #2: 21.06.23 at 17:45 » |
Quote
|
thankyou Carole B 
|
| |
https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=App&action=display&num=1687188382&start=2#2 |
|
|
|
Pete Atkin
MV Deity
Posts: 508
|
|
Re: The night they hit the pheasantry! 18th June 2023
« Reply #3: 25.06.23 at 10:50 » |
Quote
|
Thank you so much, Seán, not just for your generous report - and your astoundingly discreet photography! - but for your top-of-the-range loyalty in coming to the Pheasantry. You must have been there nearly as many times as I have.
I have only one correction: I didn't play guitar at all on The Flowers And the Wine. I'm sure that will not have cast your immaculate report into the realms of untrustworthiness for anyone at all.
Thanks too to those who e-mailed their requests. Once again they helped me to overcome my perpetual tendency to spend far too much time fiddling about with my set lists. (And apologies to those whose requests I didn't deliver: sometimes that's about the overall mixture, sometimes there are shall-I-say editorial or technical reasons why I'm uneasy about reviving something. But thanks for asking anyway.)
You'll have seen from Seán's excellent pics that there has indeed been a bit of a refurb at the Pheasantry (the reason for delaying my booking from coronation day), not least the new curtain behind the stage with its smartly illuminated sign. I'm still not sure if it's a description of the music being presented or an instruction to the audience.
I was able to announce that we have uprated my next Pheasantry booking - on Saturday 2nd September 2023 - to being the official launch for my new CD "The Luck Of The Draw", officially released on September 1st. This means mainly that a biggish chunk of the seats will be reserved for members of the press (if that is indeed how they refer to themselves these days) and special guests, but the remainder will be on sale in the usual way, so I hope as many of you as possible will be able to come and help to give them the no doubt entirely justified impression that a huge national breakthrough is imminent. (It should be live on the PizzaExpressLive website in the next few days.)
Well, they didn't book me for Glasto this time, but next time SURELY.
Stay cool.
|
| |
https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=App&action=display&num=1687188382&start=3#3 |
|
|
|
Seán Kelly
MV Fixture
Posts: 236
|
|
Re: The night they hit the pheasantry! 18th June 2023
« Reply #4: 29.06.23 at 11:01 » |
Quote
|
Thanks Pete - and looking forward to the putative Glasto appearance - in the afternoon "Legends" spot I presume - move over Yusuf! I think I will have to go when that happens. Meanwhile another cracking gig with Simon at the Pheasantry will certainly keep me happy in the interim
|
| |
https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=App&action=display&num=1687188382&start=4#4 |
|
|
|
|
