Oh my goodness... he isn’t going to... is he?

It's always a bit scary playing new venues, but that's something we're going to have to get used to this month as we've got 4 new places to take The Legendary Rio 5 Experience to...

The first of these was last night, The Manor Bar @ Brampton Manor Country Club, Chesterfield.
A very nice venue, low roof and stone flag flooring which makes it a nightmare to get a good sound and we were playing in the (unlit) fireplace. I kept asking what was burning until I twigged. D'oh

So we set it up, it was a tight fit (less room than The Oak) but somehow we managed to fit it all in, rigged up the laser and sank a few pints of the amber nectar and mingled with the tanned and the toned of the audience, Ian had just got back from Barbados and Symon had been in the Maldives so they didn't look out of place.

Showtime came around and off we went and we got them up dancing by the end of the first set (thats always a good thing) but the fun was to come in the 2nd set where we moved Mustang Sally up the running order (at the request of "that bloke") and he came up to join us and to be fair he was the life and soul of the party, and thats what it felt like, the atmosphere was the same as at a wedding, fantastic.

The shocking part came at the end of the 2nd set, You Can Leave Your Hat On, most famous for the end scene in Full Monty, where Robert Carlyle and the boys, well, get their kit off - not to be outdone, "that bloke" decided he was up for a bit of that, all the way down to his scrundies, hmm, luckily he was facing the other way and I was hiding behind Ian but I do know that it was recorded for the archives so, no doubt, it'll be on youtube soon.

After that you can't really top it but it certainly broke the ice and everybody thoroughly let their hair down, resulting in lots of singing, dancing and the keyboard player standing on the sofa and doing his best Jerry Lee Lewis impression.

Brampton Manor, thankyou soooo much for having us, the audience, you were great, "that bloke" - special thanks to you, we look forward to absolutely seeing you again.

Next gig is The Moorakers - Keswick Drive, Newbold/Dunston. Sat 3rd May - another new venue so we need some helping hands. We'l see you there!