Despite clashing with several competing key dates in the social calendar,  we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat at our March 30th gig at our regular haunt of The Comedy Pub, in Leicester Square.

According to the pub we had 32 people who had paid to see us, and there were about 30 more in the crowd to see the other bands. Not quite the 80-90 we have been playing to lately, but a good crowd nonetheless and what they may have lacked in numbers, they more than made up for in volume and enthusiasm.

We had had to overcome an initial 'crisis', as Marc, the promotor, had forgotten to let the door person know about the BPP vouchers we use, and a large group of our fans were initially refused entry. Thankfully Marc himself arrived in the nick of time, gave the okay to the doorwoman, and I was able to rescue our fans from the upstairs bar where they had taken refuge.

We opened with Chuck's Party (from our Mountain Therapy album).  The set had to be chosen quite carefully as Dave, our trumpet player, was not able to make the gig and while Chuck starts slowly, it builds to a rocking climax that gave the Shorties-virgins in the crowd an indication of what our bag was all about.

A word here for the sound engineer. Usually we arrive at the venue at the alloted soundcheck time, to find we have to wait around for a couple of hours until the sound engineer arrives. Not this time, the enginneer was on time, organised and the pay-off to this was he was able to give every band a great sound. Only on our November 05 gig have we come close to sounding this good from a sound balance point of view.

We followed with 'Sofa Bunny Love Fest'  a 'Buff My Lizard' era song, which was never formally recorded. It's been getting a great reception on it's revival, and we may yet finally 'lay it down' for the next album.

Next up was the brand new 'Don't Mock The Moog'. Having had one stab at recording it earlier this year, the song really came to life in the rehearsals for this gig. It got a great reception, and I would hope to re-record it in it's improved format.

Perennial gig favourite 'Chiswick High Road' was next. This 'BML' cut always gets a good response, and really benefited from the clear sound mix the engineer was facilitating. 

Between songs we could hear the chants of 'Shorties! Shorties!' which really encouraged and inspired us. Next up was another brand new tune 'The Richard Brautigan Memorial Barbeque'. Despite me forgetting the words to one of the verses, and having to spout nonsense words to get through, this came over really well.

'George W Bush' was next,..well he's out of office next year, so we have to milk it while we can. Then we were into the home straight...

Next up was the song that is certainly a contender for our most popular live song ever, 'He Plays The Lottery'. Given a rousing reception, the song is almost musician proof. Despite it's simple chord structure, for the second successive outing we performed it quite sloppily, certainly the shabbiest performance of the night, but the crowd drowned out our mistakes and saw us home.

'Forty Years' had been a huge hit on it's debut at our last gig, and proved that was no fluke when, once again, we got the audience to join in on 'I'm too old to work and too poor to quit' and sing along with us.

We closed the set with a brand new tune, 'Green Lanes'. Theoretically this should be a very risky move, but we were all convinced that the barnstoring chorus of Liam's latest, would be the perfect way to wind things up, and thankfully we were proved right. There is a nice, mercifully short, freak-out at the end, which enabled me to dive into the crowd and dance like a madman, without killing myself!

 Digressing slightly, for years we have struggled with the problem of how to categorise ourselves, but lately I am coming more and more to the conclusion that we are a 21st century folk band. Folk not in the po-faced, ultra-serious, beard and jumper mold, but rather in the 'come all ye' sense, with the emphasis on simple catchy tunes, and lyrics that are usually quirky or humourous and often making some political (in the broadest sense) point. Songs like 'Forty Years' capture that entirely. We are thinking, therefore, of doing some more acoustic gigs, as we used to in the Ravi era, as that audience may be one where we can more naturally draw new fans

The gig, then, was a triumph. As in the best gigs, the audience were integrated into the show, and were the vital extra instrument, the equivalent of the twelfth man in football, roaring their approval and inspiring us to greater creative heights. If you were one of those who made their way down, eschewing all the other attractions on offer that night, we thank-you wholeheartedly!

 We all had a whale of a time and hope to be able to do it all again very soon.