Tom Bright plus Open Mic at Penrith Players Theatre

Penrith, Cumbria. Sunday, 03-December- 2023.

On advice from our fellow WASP wine tasters we decided at fairly short notice to go to Plug and Play's event which was an open mic session with a random selection of performers, followed by an interval and the main act, singer-songwriter Tom Bright. Never heard of him, but he's now on his third album so he must be doing alright.

The last time we went to Plug and Play it was in the main auditorium. This night it was in the bar area -  much cosier. There was a small stage where each of the performers got to do one, two or three songs based on some criteria that was not apparent.

The line-up, insofar as I managed to catch their names (apologies for any errors) was:

• Steve and Ben - a guitar and saxophone duo, making use of a loop pedal to augment the sound. I was impressed by the sax player's smooth tones. We especially liked their last song which was “Rich Folks Hoax” by Rodriguez. 
• Ian Cumpsty - Didn't catch his name. He sang a couple of his own compositions.
• Alan Deen - cannot recall what he sang.
• Mike Turnbull & Kate Hews on aka Bramble & Briar - another duo playing guitar and, what I think must be, an electric mandolin.
• Ed Draycott - Played a mixture of original compositions and covers of Donovan's Catch the Wind 
• Lynn Guest - she played a cover “for an easy win”, one of her own compositions and a cheesy Christmas number, “Santa Baby”.
• Phil Saunders - I was impressed by this man, he played some serious blues guitar.
• Solo guitarist - another singer songwriter played a couple of his own compositions, pleasant enough.
• Jon Bowie - he played some serious guitar, Mary was especially impressed.

The main act was Tom Bright, another singer-songwriter with a line in social commentary and autobiographical content verging on poetry set to music. We bought his latest album as we often do for many musicians. Merchandising sales at gigs is a major source of income. Certainly, they get almost nothing from streaming services unless they are stadium filling artists.

A excellent evening of live music. Then home for a nightcap and bed.