Hot Raisin, Lucy Gooch, Shane O’Linski at Cactus Cafe Bar. Jack J. Hutchinson Trio at Fine City Blues, The Murderers, Norwich 11 February 2016
Hot Raisin, having played the same venue a few days earlier put on this almost impromptu gig at Cactus Cafe Bar at extremely short notice and thanks to a message notifying me of the early start I was just about able to arrive in time for Lucy Gooch who was ready to start her set about 7pm. It’s always lovely to see Lucy, she has a special warm and positive energy and despite her humble humour and modesty, and claims about playing depressing music, her positivity is really visible and infectious.
With something of a mosh-pit going on in front of her, half a dozen enthusiastic dancers with an average age of no more than six during this matinee performance, this was probably the longest set I’ve heard from Lucy. Great to hear her singing, her voice is so beautiful with echoes of Liz Fraser but even when covering Song to the Siren she still put her own spin on it. Charmingly, one of the very young ladies who’d been dancing throughout stepped towards Lucy at the end and whilst applauding shouted “Well done!”
Hot Raisin themselves were on next, Tory and Mary deciding for this evening to play largely songs that I’d not heard before as well as a few faves such as Like a Bear, and Captain. I suspect they may have indulged me by performing Space Oddity which delighted me no end. Plagued by some technical issues with the mic it simply didn’t matter as this track went down superbly with everyone here, including the kids dancing at the front. I was very impressed to hear one of them say: “It’s Bowie! This one and Ziggy Stardust are my favourites!” Her mum must have been the proudest person in the room! 🙂
Closing the music at about 8:30pm was the one and only Shane O’Linski, playing a solo set but including some Bavarian Rocket Group songs. The kids continued to dance relentlessly after the briefest of “chillax” (their word, not mine) moments between sets. Alas, I had to leave after twenty minutes or so to head to the Murderers for Fine City Blues which featured a return visit from the Jack J. Hutchinson Trio.
I caught an enjoyable hour or so of fun acoustic blues and it was good to see Big Boy Bloater in the audience, paying a visit to the Fine City and enjoying the vibe too. It was a fun end to the night with some great playing … a comedy sketch almost ensued with an encore request for Streets of London but we got Bony Maronie. Very enjoyable night.
Many thanks to Hot Raisin, Lucy Gooch, Shane O’Linski, Tory for the ‘heads up’, Fine City Blues, and Jack J. Hutchinson Trio.
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Norwich: Music City, UK 