A Night at the Blue Angel Astor Nov 2007

A Night at the
Blue Angel
Astor Theatre Deal 3rd Nov 2007
sueholton.co.uk

Once again Dave Cousins the impresario (looking ever bit the part in red and black - great red shoes and jacket!) gathered together a fine posse of entertainers for his second spectacular variety show at the Astor Theatre in Deal. The highlight of the evening was inevitably a blistering performance from the Blue Angel Orchestra, but before that we had a number of treats in store.

Local band The Far Away Tree were intriguing and unusual - what to call them - “power pop” maybe ? An energetic drummer at the back laying down some quiet Latin American rhythms, and a lead singer/guitarist with an
Elvis Costello velvet jacket “uber-geek in specs” look and thrashing out a fairly punk-style rhythm on first an electric guitar then a miked up 12-string (a touch of the Wilko Johnson movements too). To his left the girl bass player, to his right the girl fiddle player, both of whom joined in on harmonies, sometimes of a slightly atonal nature, akin to Native
American chants. The lead vocals may have suffered a bit from the poor microphone which was replaced part way into the Blue Angels’ set. Interesting and inventive material, but quite challenging to take in on first hearing. I bought the CD in the high street the next day so will report back when I’ve had a listen to that.

Next to take the stage was drag torch singer Pussy D’Amour, whose unusual act we also experienced last year. Pussy has an extraordinary voice and vamps it up to 110% singing through a hand held radio mike over a background of pre-recorded backing music. During an instrumental passage, she supped her alarming red cocktail, commenting that she wasn’t allowed to light up her cigarette these days. She slinked down into the audience for
one song, then sat on the stairs back to the stage for another. A very visual and accomplished act, though not to absolutely everyone’s taste.

Next, a first: painting to numbers! Granville D Clarke, well known landscape artist (aka Danny Clarke from the 70s band Foggy, which had close links to Strawbs) played a couple of gentle acoustic songs first then turned to the easel which was set on stage left with a camera high aloft projecting the easel onto the large projection screen at stage right. Danny kept up a stream of amusing banter with the audience as he produced several pictures. First a tree, sharing some of the tricks of his trade. Next a painting to order - cliffs, Barnsley Cathedral and some other landscape features shouted out by the audience. Then he meandered over to the piano, but was pipped at the post by Chris Ball from the Deal Hoy who sent him back to his easel, where he did a stunning midnight scene whilst
Chris played, plenty of water and watercolours, fascinating to watch the picture take shape. Not quite finished as Chris was obviously drawing to a close, Danny asked for a little water music as he completed the stippled water below the moonscape. And as a finale, Dave Cousins came on stage to play a fairly stately version of “A Glimpse Of Heaven” (ultimately to have two verses reprised as Danny needed more time to complete his work - next time The Battle or Vision Of The Lady Of The Lake!). A thoroughly enjoyable and unusual segment of the show.

But of course the Blue Angel Orchestra was, for most of us at least, the main attraction of the night - and they certainly did not let us down. Hard to believe that their first performance was only a year ago - their show tonight was tight and polished, even when they confessed that they had not played one of the songs together before ! A class act to be sure, and benefiting from the shared experience of recording the Boy In The Sailor Suit material which was the focus of the show.

Starting out slightly hesitantly on “Never Take Sweets From A Stranger”, which didn’t have 100% of he punch it has on album, they warmed up well with “Mellow Moon” with DC’s mic having been replaced. Third up “Skip To My Lou” - a song which I put in the second division for Boy, but live, this fiddle showcase has leapfrogged up to one of the top 3. Absolutely spectacular, everyone’s feet tapping: Miller had no difficulty in getting us all clapping along.

Next DC leaves the stage to allow Miller to take lead vocals on “Across The Borderline”, prefaced by the warning that the band hadn’t played this before. No problems however. Cousins returned to sing his Deal-inspired “Wish You Were Here”, before again stepping back again to let Deal-resident Howard Werth of Audience-fame sing his “I Had A Dream”. Howard stayed with the band as play resumed for a fiddle-tastic “Orange Blossom Special” with virtuoso Ian Cutler pulling out all the rock fiddle stops. During Orange Blossom Special, out came Danny Clarke again to produce a fantastic picture of a train heading out from under a viaduct, with an orange tree in the foreground, whilst the musicians bopped away. Surreal!

Final song was “Hellfire Blues” - a very very powerful performance from all, with Cousins particularly on fire on vocals, though we lost some of them in the mix as everything else was pretty loud too. Again, something which I think will be a huge live favourite, as it comes over even better live than on album.

A brief respite then they returned for some encores. First up, a surprise, “Part Of The Union” interspersed with fiddle tunes from Ian (“Grand Old Duke Of York” was one, I didn’t clock all the others). And after that bit of jollity, the final encore, Dave’s interpretation of Marlene Dietrich’s “Falling In Love Again”.

A really very very good gig indeed and a nice weekend down by the sea to boot. Other highlights of which included: late night drinkies with all and sundry at a local hostelry (thanks Chris); a hearty breakfast the next morning; meet at the pier to video us all singing along to Geoff Alexander’s version of “Lay Down” (defeated because we didn’t have anything loud enough to play it back on; carry on regardless with a rather ragged version of Lay Down with Les and I playing guitars; reprise of same on the shingle beach; followed by an “energetic” version of “Jesus” with Paul Brazier taking lead vocals, then Sunday lunch on the front.

Review by Dick Greener.

Setlist from Pete Bradley

Never Take Sweets From A Stranger
Mellow Moon
Skip To My Lou
Across The Borderline (Miller Anderson)
Wish You Were Here
I Had A Dream (Howard Werth)
The Orange Blossom Special
Hellfire Blues

Part Of The Union
Falling In Love Again

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