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        Pete Atkin >> Gigs >> Walthamstow Folk, March 10th
        
(Message started by: S J Birkill on Today at 22:33)

Title: Walthamstow Folk, March 10th
Post by S J Birkill on Today at 22:33

London again, but this time it's a Sunday:

https://www.peteatkin.com/images/walthgreen200.png (https://www.walthamstowfolk.co.uk/)

Pete is pleased to announce a return to Walthamstow Folk's excellent theatre-style venue at Ye Olde Rose and Crown on Hoe Street, E17 4SA, on Sunday March 10th, 2019. He last played the club in 2015.

Tickets aren't yet available, but stay tuned to our Website's Gig Guide (https://www.peteatkin.com/pa.htm#gigs) and we'll let you know when they are.

Steve

Title: Re: Walthamstow Folk, March 10th
Post by Seán Kelly on 11.03.19 at 09:09

https://photos.smugmug.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-tkKWnKh/0/a1da9358/L/IMG_4422LR_1000x667-L.jpg

It was an excellent evening at Walthamstow Folk Club last night. Pete is not exactly folk (well, maybe not at all) but the club’s organisers Kevin and Russ clearly have a broad definition and more to the point they recognise great work when they hear it. Their promotion for the gig said simply “some of the best songs ever written”.

As a Folk Club the evening began with a good range of stalwart regulars (including the aforementioned Russ and Kevin) before Pete came on to do a first set. He began with Master of the Revels which fairly quickly merged into a great version of Between Us There Is Nothing. I won’t list all the songs he played [ha because I haven’t got a list. Janice should be along with one soon I hope!] but other early highlights for me included The Eye of the Universe on guitar. Word perfect and performed with a clear strong voice. Pete was on great form all night. He told us he was pleased that some people had emailed in requests for songs beforehand as it helped him choose what to play.

A show of hands from the audience, at Pete’s request, revealed that a good number of us had first heard Pete on Sounds of the Seventies (ie actually in the Seventies!) or some similar radio programme. All those old BBC sessions are still paying their dues in bringing in the crowds.

Another highlight of the first set was You Alone Will Be My Last Adventure which Pete said has now been set to new chords – although he hoped it didn’t just sound like he had been “mucking about” with the chords. Shortly into the song a brief moment of uncertainty on the piano led him to declare firmly “that’s what you get for mucking about with the chords”, but actually it was a great version with its chilling lyrics of war and the strangely metaphysical (if that’s the right word) comfort which the songs woven for the beloved provide.

An interval and raffle came soon after and then more regulars and guests including Al Neville (an MV I believe) who gave us a bracingly funny song about how a cup of tea in the posher restaurants doesn’t always measure up to a good old mug of builder’s tea! After some more quality supports Pete was back for his second set. He must have been practising his Beguine because his version of Dancing Master didn’t miss a beat – a really effective number, the sadness and disappointment of age and desire both conjured up and swirled away into the Tango dance.

Pete also played a rousing version of I See The Joker which he said was written in the Nixon era before Clive had even been to America. In recent times he said it had gained a new layer of metaphorical meaning (who could he have been referring to ?! :) )

As we got towards the end of the set Pete took a live request, having run out of the email ones, for An Empty Table. Again it was perfectly played, beautifully measured. And then before you knew it the end of the set was upon us. Pete finished with You Can’t Expect To Be Remembered which merged into a reprise of Master of the Revels.

Brought back for an encore he gave us Girl on the Train. Kevin certainly spoke for me at the end when he declared over the clapping “We all know there are great songs out there but the amount of consistently great songs we have had tonight is just stunning”. All I would add is that Pete’s performance and timing were also excellent and fully met the needs of these remarkable songs.

Thanks indeed to Kevin and Russ and Clare for the booking.

Hi to Richard and Val and Janice – very good to see you all.

And finally thanks most of all to Pete. To everyone else : catch him when you can!

https://photos.smugmug.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-P7zktPN/0/528f11b4/M/IMG_4430LR_1000x667-M.jpg

Title: Re: Walthamstow Folk, March 10th
Post by Carole on 11.03.19 at 17:54

What a wonderful review and photos, Seán! I was looking forward to it (no pressure!) and it didn't disappoint :) Many thanks for posting - sounds like a great night!

Title: Re: Walthamstow Folk, March 10th
Post by Seán Kelly on 11.03.19 at 19:54

Cheers Carole - and here's hoping you and Steve can catch Mr A sometime - I'll certainly hope to be there too.

Title: Re: Walthamstow Folk, March 10th
Post by Jan on 12.03.19 at 15:28

Sorry for the delay with the setlist but I've just got back to the wilds of North Yorkshire.
Fortunately I booked my ticket for the gig this time because it was sold out, as was Pete's previous appearance at this venue.
Pete was in great form and I'm sure the voice gets better with age! We had 5 songs from the first album spread out among the other gems:
1. Master of the revels (k)
segue into the superb
2. Between us there is nothing (k)
3. Have you got a biro (g)
4. Eye of the universe (g) Not heard as often as it should be, I feel its more effective on guitar than keyboard.
5. Screenfreak (k) (Did we ever track down that quote about the Caftan of the Caliph?)
6. You alone will be my last adventure (k) Beautiful.
7. Canoe (k)
8. Colours of the night (g)
9. Beware of the beautiful stranger (g)

10. The man who walked toward the music (g)
11. Prayers against the hitman (g)
12. Thirty year man (k)
13. Dancing master (k)
14. Wristwatch for a drummer (g)
15. An empty table (k)
16. I see the joker (k)
17. You can't expect to be remembered (k) I'd forgotten how much I liked this one.
18. Master of the revels reprise (k)
19. Girl on the train (g)

Thanks for a lovely evening Pete!
(When invited to draw one of the raffle winners I managed to draw the ticket of Sean's wife, who was sitting next to me!)

Jan

Title: Re: Walthamstow Folk, March 10th
Post by Kevin Cryan on 12.03.19 at 20:50

Jan asks:

"Did we ever track down that quote about the Caftan of the Caliph?"

Quote:

The caliph in the caftan was usually played by George Macready while Piper Laurie waited to be rescued by Gordon MacRae, all three of them unaware that one day even film buffs would forget their names. Gone, gone: with the wind.

Clive James
Collected Poems 1958-2015 (pub: Picador)

Kevin Cryan

Title: Re: Walthamstow Folk, March 10th
Post by Jan on 13.03.19 at 10:58

Thanks Kevin. I hadn't seen that before.
I've had a lovely 10 mins going through some of the archive from the first year of the email archive of Midnight Voices. (There are some names there I'd forgotten although some of us are still around!)
There was quite a bit of discussion about Screenfreak then and I think we'd tracked down most references. Someone commented that we hadn't found the caliph and that it would probably be Pete or Clive who provided the answer, and he was right.

https://www.peteatkin.com/mvindex.htm
Week 32 and 33
Jan

Title: Re: Walthamstow Folk, March 10th
Post by Kevin Cryan on 13.03.19 at 19:36

Actually, I can now admit to cheating by using Clive's gloss on the line rather than my own (https://www.peteatkin.com/c9a.htm), proffered some time earlier.

Quote:

The caftan of the caliph turns to powder at your glance

During the forties and fifties many of the big Hollywood studios produced films set in exotic locations, films in which contract players could dress up (or down, in leading ladies' cases). On the other hand, it may be an oblique reference to the memorable Arabian Nights (1942) in which dull dull, actor called Jon Hall (who he, I hear you say) does indeed play a caliph battling Leif Erickson (Big John Cannon in the TV series High Chaparral (1967-1971)) for the hand of Maria Montez. There are times when you watch the film and hope Hall's caftan would catch fire, if only to inject a bit of life into him.

Kevin Cryan

Footnote:

I suspect that Jon Hall and Maria Montez have been forgotten, even by film buffs

Title: Re: Walthamstow Folk, March 10th
Post by Seán Kelly on 15.03.19 at 11:15

Got to agree with you Jan about You Can't Expect To Be Remembered - a really great version I think - certainly it was the one I went home singing (in my head :-) And many thanks for the setlist!