When the girls are away, then the
boys will gig…! My missus had long earmarked this afternoon for a Bristol
theatre trip with the daughter of the house, so when Logan’s and my own “most-seen”
live act, “The Bard of Purton” himself, West Country travelling folk/ punk land
pirate ruffian Gaz Brookfield, announced a matinee beer garden show at
Salisbury bolt-hole The Winchester Gate, suddenly our afternoon looked a bit
different than the usual Saturday afternoon vegging on the sofa (usually
post-gym morning, to be fair…) watching the footy results. No sir, some
acoustic Gaz shenanigans now await!
So we set off just after 12.30, a little later than planned as Logan was feeling a little worse for wear (!) and was slow getting up… happily he revived on the winding journey through Savernake to old Sarum, so was in good form as we arrived, dumping the motor in a nearby cash-only car park which, as we had no cash, required a fiddly app download! Gained entry into this 2-tier beer garden which reminded me of Southampton Hobbit’s sprawling back yard, then back into the pub for drinks, queueing up behind Gaz and Logan having a chat with him about motorbikes and stuff. Support Mischa Weston-Green had already started, so we took a watching brief at the top of the steps on the fringes of the open upper tier (all the benches were taken). A solo acoustic guy, as expected, his material had definite Jamaican/ reggae leanings, both in the rhythm and song structure and in Mischa’s vocal delivery. A mid-set “Stop, Drop, Roll” was punkier, and apparently co-opted by Extinction Rebellion as their theme, and my highlight was the frantic closer about his favourite bands whilst growing up; shame the track was way better than the bloody awful bands (Queen, RATM, RHCP, Guns’n’Roses) it namechecked (!), and overall I was a bit ambivalent about his set. Nice he’s trying something other than the usual punk-tinged acoustic folky stuff, but I’ve never been a fan of reggae anyway, and the material largely didn’t make much of an impression on me either…
We ventured down to the bottom tier, covered gazebo-like, and eyed up a couple of unoccupied seats by the merch desk to the right of the corner stage. As Gaz kicked into his usual rambunctious form dead on 3 with a jovial and jocular “Solo Acoustic Guy”, no-one else had bagged them, so we did! An early, swayalong and rather ace actually “So Very Rock And Roll” saw the first beer garden singalong to the “la la la la” middle 8 refrain, and when Gaz then announced the release of an acoustic version of his recent “Morning Walking Club” album before an affirmative “Nuggets”, the dog companion of an old bloke in marker-penned hi-viz gear (more on him later) started barking. Everyone’s a critic…!
Having seen Gaz a couple of times
at the end of last year, much of the newer numbers in the set and the
explanations for same were recently familiar, although it was nice to hear Gaz’
story about “Time Team” again before a poignant “Arborglyph”, particularly the
addendum that Gaz is now appearing on “TT” in May! “I’m taking my metal
detector and I’ll find absolutely nothing…!” he quipped… However my particular
favourites of the early set were the “path less trodden” numbers, such as a
rare, relaxed “Pen To Paper”, and the splendid “Cornish Fishing Town”, played
by Gaz “in the round”, standing and rotating (“I’m the lazy Susan of folk!”) on
the wall separating the 2 beer garden levels, and using a fretted dulcimer that
a sponsor had bought him, in exchange for writing a song in 24 hours using it!
The band coming-of-age paean “Hook Village Hall” was another highlight,
particularly as Dave, one of the protagonists of the song, was present this
afternoon, Gaz revealing he had indeed nicked a drumbeat from ska punkers [spunge]!
By now we’d been joined by the old bloke with the dog, who proceeded to rifle through Gaz’ CD box, which made me a little awkward… do I stop him, or what? Luckily the onlooking Gaz didn’t seem too perturbed, although the final few numbers were played in a bit of a gallop; the more familiar likes of “Be The Bigger Man”, a brilliant “Gunner Haines”, an acerbic “I’ve Paid My Money” (“it’s not about you guys!”), the “arrrr!”-inducing “Land Pirates Life” and a totally apt and inclusive singalong to “West Country Song” rounding off a fine set, and a perfect accompaniment to a lazy beer garden afternoon.
Happily, the old bloke paid for the pile of CDs he’d accumulated, and I grabbed a new tee and a handshake from Gaz at the merch stand, before we set off, home via the chippy for tea. Nice one Gaz; we’ll see you later in the year for the usual Hop and Fleece full band double-header!
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