Written by Jeff Radford and/or Lynn Hastie Photos by Tricia Courtney Dickens, Denise Courtney, Jack Courtney or Nick Courtney CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMMENTS ON THIS REVIEW (OR MAKE ONE) Thursday 7th January 2010   I see a Barn door and I want it painted black So, the first instalment of open mike of the new year and, indeed, the new decade came to pass not only in a newly decorated inside, but a newly decorated outside, Southsea swathed as it was in a layer of snow (well, ice by this point, to be more exact). Unperturbed, folks packed The Barn, and whilst it may have been cold outside, the atmosphere inside certainly was not. Bemis filled both of the band slots, kicking off with a boisterous and playful ‘Stray Cat Strut’ followed by a more customary, and serious ‘Freedom’. Sounding magnificent, even at the back of a noisy room, thanks to the impressive new sound system, ‘Games People Play’ and ‘The World Turned Upside Down’ followed, before the pace was upped with ‘Starfish and Coffee’, one of my favourites, and tonight featuring particularly lovely harmonies courtesy of Richie. Then it was time for a Barn first, as Jeff requested ‘more bass in the monitor.’ It was a high tech extravaganza!! Despite Gareth’s concerns, the maiden performance of ‘Keep on Rocking in the Free World’ by the whole band didn’t clear the room, allowing the whole audience to experience Chris Ricketts being slapped by his brother as an unorthodox, but really quite apt introduction to ‘Machismo’. As if to make up for the unnecessary levels of violence in both the ethos and performance of the previous song, a beautifully mellow ‘Slogan Song’ followed. ‘Atlantic City’ saw Richie take lead vocals in what was another of my favourite moments from the set. Still feeling feisty, Gareth threatened pain and misery to anyone who didn’t join in with ‘Jigsaw Song’ next, with Richie desperately leaping in to ask if “everyone’s okay?’ in a vain attempt to make up for his band mates unusually aggressive stance. Such was my fear, in fact, that at this point I was forced to take a break from blog writing duties to visit… THE NEW TOILETS!!!!! Hyped more, perhaps, than anything else in the refit (in part, at least, thanks to Nick’s Christmas song) personally I couldn’t wait to find out whether the scent and fittings could live up to our high hopes. And… I’m pleased to say that, in the ladies at least, the doors closed AND locked and there were both toilet roll and hand towels, and no discernible odour of urine. All good so far then… I returned to the stage area to find that a strange event had occurred. Tired, perhaps, as being billed consistently as the third member of the duo, Jeff had managed to remove the two backing members of the band in order to perform a strong and emotive solo ‘Screamager’. His success was short lived, however, as Howell’s leapt back into the performance arena for a solo ‘Brilliant Fire’ (for George), which was, as always, lovely, followed by a beautiful ‘Sweet Baby James’, played and sung by Richie. Solo interlude over, the whole band launched into ‘The Weight’ and were joined by members of the drum circle for something I hadn’t heard before, ‘Where Will It Lead’ (if that’s the name of the track…fail on Bemis song titles I’m afraid) and Woodstock. Richie took lead vocals for ‘Helpless’ and ‘Talking ‘bout a Revolution’ before it was time for … ANOTHER TOILET REVIEW!!! Hurray!!!! Although, unfortunately, this time the report was that the toilets DO indeed smell of wee. Disappointing. (Thanks to our correspondent, Andrew Matthews for his brave work in order to deliver this report.) Back to Bemis’s set, which finished riotously, with enthusiastic and passionate renditions of ‘People Live On’ and ‘Werewolves of London’, joined by members of the drum circle. What a lovely start…. The Man Flu Band began the open mike with a Christmas Song, in an attempt to make up for the fact that Rory had missed the Christmas Party. Somewhat ironically, I managed to miss this performance, so am relying on Rob’s review, which was that it was a ‘brutal song involving the massacre of Santa”. Festive. I did, however, manage to hear their marvellously dirty ‘Delilah’ which was everything it should have been and more. ‘Roxanne’ sadly didn’t follow, but an upbeat ‘Image Coming Soon’ did, approaching musicality in line with the band’s levels of enthusiasm. A round of ‘Happy Birthday’ for Al followed, before Aitch came to the stage to perform three of her own songs, all of which were hauntingly beautiful. I was particularly taken with ‘Candyfloss’, especially the request for “Candyfloss, lip gloss and pink shoes”. What more could you ask for? George found time to slip in a toilet review : they smell of paint and are fantastic and clean, before taking to the stage with Vinny. An enthusiastic ‘What Do You Want From Me?’ matched George’s lead vocals with backing from Vinny, followed by ‘Drops of Jupiter’, which saw George’s vocal’s stretched perhaps a little too far. A confident guitar part on ‘More Than Words’ supported George’s vocals, marred only by own bias against this song. A pleasant set, and lovely to see George supported by a musician. The first rock and roll raffle of the new dawning took place without Rock and Roll Lorry, but we needn’t have feared as Nick, Rory, Katie, Casey, Ian, Alan and Terry stepped into the breach. I learnt that having four strips of tickets of different colours is much to confusing but won some chocolate to make up for it. Nick stayed on the stage with a similar array of people, joined at some point by Gareth, for a version of ‘Reward’ that certainly made up for its six week absence. ‘It Seemed That Life Was Getting Better’ followed. Andy Matheson was next, and controversially decided to tune the guitar, (a downside to the new sound system having been discovered) and ban the drum circle from partaking in his new song, although Gareth WAS allowed to. “Jack and Diane” was, as a result, irony driven and rhythmically interesting. (I don’t know what this means either.) Alan joined him for ‘Walking in Slow Motion’ , which is not a good idea if you have upset the drummers, followed by ‘Long Train Running’, with Jeff on cajon, Al on bass and Gareth on backing vocals, which was very lovely tonight. And Andy, somewhat surprisingly, completed his set without being torn limb from limb. Alan Roberston started his set with Al, Gareth, Nick and Andy for a massive ‘Drift Away’ followed by a marvellous ‘Perfect Ten’ with Katie, which reminded me how great some of The Beautiful South songs are, which hurt a bit. In punishment for these thoughts, Alan requested a rabble for ‘Sultan’s of Swing’ which affords me the same issues as ‘More Than Words’. A classic slice of soft rock, I will write generously. The arrival of Ian Scarbro brought Helen, Jeff, Gareth and I out in a rush of enthusiasm as he single headedly stole the stage with a beautiful performance which made me smile. And celebrate the sound system, which is such a boost for solo performers this late in the night. Blues-man Chris took the last of the slot of the open mike, performing ‘Put on Your Red Dress Baby’ with Terry on eggs and a random man in a hat on cajon. ‘Route 66’ followed, with Alan and Jeff, which was great anyway, without the added bonus of a melodica right in my ear. ‘Hit the Road Jack’ followed, which as well as being a lovely performance, seemed like sound advice and so many of us (but not all) began to make our slippery journey home. OFFICIAL BARN REVIEW WRITER - JEFF RADFORD OFFICIAL BARN REVIEW WRITER - LYNN HASTIE OFFICIAL BARN PHOTOGRAPHER - TRICIA COURTNEY DICKENS CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMMENTS ON THIS REVIEW CLICK HERE TO READ THE GIG GUIDE & SEE WHO IS COMING TO THE BARN NEXT WEEK CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO ROGER COURTNEYS OPEN MIKE CLUB