I played at 3 Open Mics in Liverpool, 3-5 of March. Here’s a brief summary but
there’ll be more photos and some video clips too.
Sunday evening I played at the JACARANDA CLUB where The Beatles first
performed, before setting off to Hamburg. This time, the Open Mic was upstairs;
when I was last performed there, in July 2002, I played downstairs. The
atmosphere was relaxed and the people there really dug my stuff. It was a good
way to ease myself into the Liverpool scene. I listened to some very good
songwriters; among them Liam Cromby whom I got to know on a train from
Budapest to Vienna in 2019 – talk about Brief Encounters! It was nice to hear the
songs of young singer/songwriter Lydia Rowlands and her friend, a genuine Riot
Girrrl who sang anti-war songs. Great evening! For a Monday THE CAVERN PUB
was positively heaving, mainly because of all the musicians who wanted to
perform there. lan Prowse runs this Open Mic and every act is allowed to play 2
original songs. I have lost count but I reckon there must have been around 35
acts. By the time it was my turn, I was only allowed to play one song due to time
constraints but that was ok, it was still a blast! There were acts from Australia,
Uruguay, Brazil, and the US and of course little old me from Budapest. Local hero
Barry Jones’ song “Hide The Sausage” went down a treat. “Where’s the f***ing
sausage”? he kept singing and everybody sang along to it – hilarious! Tuesday
evening I was off to the FUTURE YARD in Birkenhead. It is a community hub
very arty – and every Tuesday night there’s an Open Mic. I got chatting to a few
musicians. It is a very friendly place and that evening there was a brilliant cross-
section of music on offer (jazz/hip-hop/psychedelic folk) and blues-pop from
Yours Truly. My fave act was Catnapper, a male duo. I loved their song Baptism
Of Fire. But there were several young female singers and musicians too; I don’t
think Liverpool will ever suffer from lack of talented musicians. I’ll be back
Liverpool.: thank you for the music!
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Hi Isvan, how’s it going pal?
Thanks Seb, I’m fine. I have been ever so busy playing etc but I haven’t forgotten that I want to come and see you. It’ll have to be May because I have so much on plus I’ll be in Budapest towards the end of April.I shall contact you nearer the time. Hope allis ok your end. I will be playing in Whitstable tomorrow. Didn’t your sister live there? Or maybe she still does.Speak soon, Seb. All the best,
Istvan