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Ryan's reflections on some of his performances
Talking Heads, Portswood, 31st March
Ryan, Alan, Pierre, Philippe. I like The Talking Heads
as a venue. But something usually goes wrong when I play there in the past and this time was no exception. First of all we were advertised to play at 11:10pm, which was a good time. Then we were told at our sound check we were
being put back till 12:30am.Then we ended up on stage at 7:30pm. Almost nobody was there to see us because of the last minute changes of stage time, but we had a good fun on the big stage they have there. I tried a Welsh accent to
introduce the songs which I thought was very funny even if no one else did. Pierre was back from University which was good, especially for the Last Years Blues solo. Simon didn't play the show and Don't Feel Cold didn't have the
same impact without the piano. We still haven't ever had a full band to play a gig. Gig Rating: 6/10 Best Song:
Railway Inn, 29th March
Ryan, Alan, Simon Beard & Philippe Simon played well on his first Raindogs gig behind the keyboard (nice jazz improv when I introduced him to the crowd!) The honky-tonk piano sounded great for Don't Feel Cold
but we missed Pierre's guitar for that song in particular. The jazz piano also found its way into a medley of I Haven't Fallen & Natalie which sounded good. It was great to see Callum play and the place was as packed as I've
ever seen and the crowd was on good form, but we didn't sell enough C.D's to cover our costs. Lesson learnt…No More Free Gigs!! Gig Rating: 7/10 Best Song:
Railway Inn, 23rd March
Ryan I played solo between two college rock bands (Jumbo Boomers & Andelsie) but the crowd was very
receptive and quiet when I needed them to be. This was one of my favorite solo gigs at the railway in a long time. Gig Rating: 8/10 Best Song:
Mono Bar, Southampton, 12th March
Ryan & Alan I broke a string on the first song and had to jump of stage to find a new guitar to play. But after that we played pretty well. I like the venue and the night was busy and the other
bands were good. Overall a good gig though, nice venue and good crowd. Gig Rating: 7/10 Best Song:
Notting Hill Arts Club, London, 28th February
Ryan & Alan This was our first ever gig in London and we were perhaps a bit nervous to begin with. We went on first but the place was packed. The venue was a very cool downstairs bar with
a small stage, but it had a great atmosphere. I heard it's hard to impress people in London, but we weren't chased out of Notting Hill, so we must have done something right. The rest of the bands were very good. I think people
liked that we started the evening with a bluesy acoustic set. Gig Rating: 8/10 Best Song:
The Railway Inn, 9th February
Ryan & Alan The crowd was fairly small for the most of this gig. But they were silent when we played and were enthusiastic at the end of each song. It sort of reminded me of playing a late night
jazz club. The show was very laid back but was a good gig in the end. Gig Rating: 7/10 Best Song:
The Railway Inn, 19th January
Ryan, Tyler Kyte, Alan & Philippe We were supporting the excellent Blackbud and there was a big crowd out to see them. This was probably one of the best gigs we've played as a band. It was a lot of fun to play
a proper venue with Tyler Kyte from Canada on stage with us. We had a really good crowd at the Railway that night. We got them dancing to Last Years Blues and got them listening to Making You Happy. We sounded good all the way
through the set and we got a review in the local paper. It would have been good if Pierre had played as well, but it was a great show anyway. Gig Rating: 9/10 Best Song:
The Railway Inn, Winchester, 29th January
Ryan O'Reilly, Alan Clarke, Pierre Le Goff & Philippe Le Goff We were supporting a very
entertaining band called Six Nation State. The place was packed as usual and everyone seemed to enjoy the whole night. I thought we weren't on top form. We made too many mistakes, but it was our first Railway gig since I'd got back
from 3 months in Dublin, so we had an excuse for being a bit out of practice. At times we were good. The last three songs were recorded. Unfortunately these were the weakest performances in the set. We got good reviews after the
show, but we all knew we could do a lot better. Gig Rating: 6/10 Best Song: