'Take the old gits gigging, take them gigging..'

Okay. The Dublin Castle. I was pleasantly surprised with the turnout. I was so pleased Colin Gillman came with his bassman Adam Donovan in tow. I was pleased to meet John Rigby - lovely guy, and local, and knows about web sites, and wants to put together a post-punk type band, if you're interested. I was pleased that the band Creak came along, it was nice to meet them, and Gray Dourson came too, as you may have noticed from his discussion on the subject entitled The Dublin Castle: A view from the floor. Colin too has written a review of his experience of the night and in particular seeing 14 Carat Grapefruit. I couldn't beat it, so read his blog Hats off to the Grapefruit here.

Now Colin arrived too late to see the Dipsticks so his blog doesn't include comment on their performance. So I will. Led by the blue suede shoed Patrick Begley, ambulance driver by trade and songwriter and guitarist by nature, and supported by the rock steady rhythm section of Mark McKendrick (who incidentally hadn't played or even been in the Dublin Castle for 32 years!) and Angie Thedrummer (who's could well have been born that same night, judging by her youthful looks), the band entertained a home crowd with their mid-tempo blues rock and Patrick's lyricism. They even had the females in front dancing in the first few minutes. It was an early goal for Rock-Til-You-Drop. Did this mean it would all go down hill from here? It did for Everton over the weekend. Thankfully it did not.

Spirit of Play also brought a decent crowd, and entertained them successfully with their witty lyrics and four-part harmonies. And Wendy wowed the McGuinn fans among us with her electric twelve string.

While I defer to Colin's review of 14 Carat Grapefruit, I do have to say what a lovely bunch of guys they were, and like all the bands on the night, punctual, reliable and very friendly. They had us all in stitches for just over 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, the division between live area and bar took it's toll on the last band The Great Outdoor Experience who played to a fairly empty room. Apparently, they'd played on the Saturday previous and therefore shot their load for that week. Naughty. Oblivious though, they played a blistering set.

Dove Jones was a wonderful MC as usual, and Steve 'Dog-Headed Man' Musham, left me singing Holiday in Cambodia and Take the Skinheads Bowling for the next few days.