From: owner-little-wings-digest@smoe.org (little-wings-digest) To: little-wings-digest@smoe.org Subject: little-wings-digest V6 #8 Reply-To: little-wings@smoe.org Sender: owner-little-wings-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-little-wings-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk little-wings-digest Sunday, February 29 2004 Volume 06 : Number 008 Today's Subjects: ----------------- little-wings: Redbird tour ["Geraint Evans" ] RE: little-wings: The tour ["Dave McKay" ] little-wings: UK dates ["Liz Garlinge" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 11:02:13 -0000 From: "Geraint Evans" Subject: little-wings: Redbird tour Where did you get the impression the tour wasn't going very well, Tim? I went to two of the gigs, first at the London Borderline and then three days later at Twickenham Folk Club (where I book the guests). They were on great form at the Borderline, very well received and though the club wasn't packed it was a very healthy turnout (though people weren't sitting on the floor throughout as at last year's Chautaqua gig). The four of them leapt on and off stage at regular intervals and were gathered round two mikes (bluegrass style), simply leaning in more to do a lead vocal or solo. Of her own stuff I remember Kris sang 'Words Fail You' (my request!) and as far as I could see they all sold a good quantity of CDs (I was more busy handing out flyers). At our folk club it definitely WAS packed. OK, the room is fairly small but we would have been turning people away if more had showed up. Kris, Jeffrey, Peter and Goody were as easy to deal with as any guests we've had....nothing flustered them. The sound set-up was different from the Borderline as our PA couldn't handle their mikes (something to do with 'phantom power'...don't ask!). So they used the conventional vocal mikes instead and 'DI'd all the instruments. Another difference was they all stayed onstage throughout as in a songwriters circle. It was a very special night and they were rapturously received by a crowd many of whom hadn't previously heard of them. Three days earlier I'd asked Kris if she would run through Dave Carter's 'Fiddlers Rim'....she hadn't been able to remember all the words but (bless her cotton socks!) sang 'Power and the Glory' instead. Other songs she sang lead on were 'Have Patience', 'Bobby Lee', 'Yellow Brick Road', a stunning 'Juice and June' and even more stunning 'Caledonia' (another request from somebody...apparently she'd only ever sung it once before). She also did a wonderful duet with Peter on Steve Earle's Goodbye (as Steve himself has sometimes done it with Emmylou) Full setlist...Ships, Moonglow, Patience, I Gotta Get Drunk, Lovely as the Day is Long, Bobby Lee, Mustang Horses and Champagne Glasses, Accidentals of the West, Sad Sad Sad, Juice + June, Sonora's Death Row, then after the break....Whole World Down, Rising Sun, The Very Thought of You, Caledonia, 4 & 20 Blues, Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road, Miles From the Lightning, Jesus, Hold On, White Freightliner Blues, Hard Times. The lusty chorus singing throughout but especially on 'Caledonia' and 'Hard Times' seemed to particularly surprise and delight them prompting Kris to remark "Officially you're now all in the band...we're off to Ireland in two days so get your bags packed!" A great night all in all....I think most people who didn't know their stuff previously bought the Redbird album and those who did bought a solo album. I don't think they're doing these joint tours to make money....the main idea would seem to be have a lot of fun while making a platform for future solo trips. All of them have a very low profile in the UK up to now. gerry ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 11:37:57 -0000 From: "Dave McKay" Subject: RE: little-wings: The tour > I thought there would be updates on the UK tour. Maybe the fans are all > having too much fun to email the rest of us stuck accross the > pond. Hopefully > one of the blessed will tell us how things are going. My wife and I made it to the Seaton, Devon concert on February 14. Small venue, but pretty well attended by the locals ... it certainly seemed like there weren't too many who had seen Kris, Peter, Jeffrey and Goody before. They put on a great show, as always, mostly featuring covers from the Redbird CD, but with each of them playing a small set of their own material (Kris did Broken White Line and Hummingbird ... we sang along in the front row). Talked at length with both Kris and Peter during the interval and after the gig, catching up on news. Peter thought that they might not be back to the UK as a group, at least in the short to medium term, but seemed hopeful that they'd be touring here individually at the tail end of the year. We didn't make it to any other shows this time around, but from what Kris said, it sounded like the attendance at the London gig (at the Borderline) was down from last year (which was a little sparse in the first place). Both she and Peter were of the opinion that touring under the Redbird name, with their own names taking second billing, might have been a mistake from a promotional point of view. Then again, how they can get anywhere near to profiting from the tour under any circumstances is beyond me ... certainly any money they make must be from CD sales, which did seem to be moving quite well (and ten pounds per CD translates quite well to dollars at the moment). They do seem to have a lot of fun though (we spent more time with them last year, including dinner before the Borderline gig, so have some inside knowledge of this). They played a lot of different venues this time around, which probably didn't help to get repeat attendees ... though I can fully understand why they didn't go back to Portsmouth! It would be great to see Kris, Peter and Jeffrey back to do solo tours (Jeffrey supported Chris Smither in addition to the Chatauqua tour lat year). Bizarrely, despite our friendship, we've never actually seen Kris on a solo tour! Dave. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 20:10:31 +0000 From: "Liz Garlinge" Subject: little-wings: UK dates Evenin' all. My first post. I went to see Redbird at Ceol Castle in Birmingham on the date they did there. Sadly there were only around 20 people there. A fantastic gig though. Chatted with Kris during the interval and after the gig, and she mentioned there is some work going on to set up a solo tour for her here in the UK. Exciting news ! I wish I'd been able to get to more of the gigs this tour... but maybe next time. ...and tonight the Redbird tour ends. Liz _________________________________________________________________ Find a cheaper internet access deal - choose one to suit you. http://www.msn.co.uk/internetaccess ------------------------------ End of little-wings-digest V6 #8 ********************************