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Busking for Beer.
The Crescent,
Salford. 26.02.10.
Great start to the weekend this. It's called
Busking
for Beer and it's a
simple but brilliant idea.
Here's the deal: Talented people get up on stage
and recite some of their own poetry and/or sing some of their
own songs, they get some beer as a reward- and the crowd get
some great free entertainment.
Well, salfordmusic
popped down to
The Crescent
to witness the latest Busking For Beer night and it was a
belter.
Now, we don't pretend to be connoisseurs of
poetry, in fact, we barely know our sonnets from our limericks
but there was some ace entertainment on show here.
We were particularly taken with Melanie Rees
(pictured top right), a Salford lass who recited tales of mythical
beasts and ancient Greeks and the River Irwell and Ewan MacColl.
Honestly. She'd obviously had a few scoops but she charmed the
audience with her earthy and humorous delivery.
Other highlights were Allan Gray and his ballad
about wheelie bins, John "Darkside" Darwin and his arsenic-laced
tales of betrayal and disappointment.
Interlaced with all this versification were some
musical highlights too. Salford's very own travelling minstrel
John Herring regaled us with a small repertoire of his best
stuff. Despite a couple of technical hitches, including a
disappearing DI box and a snapped E-string, he and his sidekick
Brian Richards held the audience with some excellent songs from John's
latest album Tales from a Northern City.
Finishing off the evening were the most excellent
Hayley Faye Band. Hayley herself is an engaging and likeable
front-woman and the band chug joyfully through lots of angular,
jaunty and catchy songs. We especially enjoyed "Nautical
Madness" and "Shake".
Top stuff.
The evening was brilliantly hosted by
TingNTing at
The Crescent, who are doing an excellent job in their
ongoing commitment to putting on live shows. And the whole
shebang was wonderfully compered by
Jeffarama.
We're looking forward to the next time that
Busking for Beer rolls into Salford. You should join us next
time. |
