The 'Fingers Crossed' Tour kicks off

At last! After a dreadful long winter of rain, rain, rain, a heart attack, and yet more rain, the [Thomas Lord] Old Gits were back on tour, performing in one of our favourite local pubs, the Fox in Bramdean. We'd been promoted to playing indoors, and given a later slot than last year, but, what with it being Monday night, the crown was sparse, but very appreciative. Highlight of the evening was watching Tod keep going after a nightmare journey back from oop north, resulting in a sleep-free night Sun/Mon. His voice vanished after only three or four songs, and sort of came back a few songs later, but we muddled through, and played quite well. All those evenings in Shed 3b weren't wasted. Rumour has it that we were being filmed for posterity, so look out for coverage of us murdering all sorts of classics from the 60s right up to the present day...

The Greatham Gig

 

 

This is the one that was rescheduled after a last minute cancellation ages ago. It was worth the wait. Despite the rugby being on in the corner, we managed to grab the audience's attention and entertain them royally. Some of the young ladies from the nearby spiritual retreat actually stopped gazing adoringly at John for a bit and got up and danced. Got to love these moody black and white shots of us setting up.

 

You whaaaaaaaat?

Here, at last, is the moment when the Bride and Groom realised that they had put many hours of work into a fantastic dance to Song A, but the Thomas Lord Old Gits had kicked off with Song B (and had no intention to switch to Song A!). 

 

 

 

 



Rosie and Ed's wedding

After a disgracefully long break, filled with occasional rehearsals of variable quality, the Mudansha Tour kicked off again in the stunning surroundings of Houghton Lodge, where we were honoured to be asked to provide the music to round off Rosie and Ed's wedding day.

The omens were not brilliant - the request for a huge stage had gone missing, and we were on a tiny corner of an otherwise fantastically engineered tent. The roof of the fantastically engineered tent had a ventilating flap that was less-than-fantastically engineered, and let the rain in onto our kit and the dance floor, and shutting the flaps involved Dave and Charlie doing a routine from the Chinese People's Army Gymnastics Team. You had to see it to believe it. How no-one got injured is a mystery.

Dave was in the middle of a long weekend charity walk, and looked somewhat the worse for wear - ditto Ian (just back from a long mid-afternoon gig in Arundel) and Charlie (just back from long gig in combine harvester). Tod and Ian looked completely refreshed, though.

After some brilliant speeches and cake cutting, the whole throng gathered for the romantic first dance. Once again, there had been a tiny misunderstanding, and as the bride and groom prepared to do the routine they had rehearsed to Fleetwood Mac's cheesy pop classic 'Ooooh, you make loving fun', the Old Gits launched into Fleetwood Mac's gritty blues classic from the mid-Sixties, 'Need your love so bad'.

Confusion reigned for several bars, as the bride and broom looked at the band in disbelief, and the band all looked at each other wondering what had gone wrong (apart from Charlie starting in the wrong key). There was then a collective 'Oh Well' (geddit?), a mass shrugging of shoulders, and everyone just got on and danced.

For a band woefully short of competitive performance, we did very well. There was the odd outbreak of cramp, the odd outbreak of crap, but when the rigorously enforced stop time came, we think everyone had had a good time. We certainly had, and that's (almost) what counts.

We then ate too much wedding cake and cheddar. Nom nom nom.

The Star Wars Gig

For part two of the May Bank Holiday feast of music, we hit The Fox at Bramdean, setting up in the garden next to the bouncy castle. It was a delight to have Dan joining us again for the day, giving Todd's voice a break, and letting us do a few more songs that weren't Dan-free. Pictures below reflect the day perfectly - a young audience stunned into silence by our playing, Dave giving it what for, and a member of the Fox's staff who couldn't resist the urge to dance on the tables.....

 
 

At last....the Mudansha Tour starts!!

After months of preparation and rehearsal, the Mudansha Tour started. During these months, we've spent many hours in Shed 3b, honing our mediocre musical skills to the point where we felt fit to hit the road again. We tried breaking in a new guitarist to replace Dan, but after a couple of rehearsals and being given too much home work, Will decided he wouldn't join us after all. A shame.
Undaunted, we persevered, and after a false start at the Greatham Inn (get well soon, landlady), the Tour kicked off at the Bull Inn in Bentley. Some of the locals took the news rather badly, it seems....

 

It was the perfect way to get going again - a warm welcome, a sparse but enthusiastic crowd, and we played very well.

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

The Name of the 2015 Tour

One of the year's most important jobs has been done: a name has been found for the 2015 Tour.
It will be:


 無段者



^{(For those whose Japanese is a little rusty, this is 'mudansha', a Judo term, used for those who are beginners; in other words: "those without dan")}