Not much could have lifted my spirits last night, to be honest, but perlmonger and I dragged our weary bones to the car, and drove the 50 miles to Marlborough to see Show of Hands performing at St Marys Church in Marlborough, part of their Spires and Beams tour.
And I’m very glad we did. With the almost ever present Miranda Sykes, Phil and Steve served up a beautiful set of acoustic music, much of which they played while wandering around the church.
Community singing took place for Roots, Country Life (a slowed down version that didn’t work so well for me), Cousin Jack etc. Phil played a blinder on his fiddle as always, Miranda did a solo with a guitar (!), and there was a new song, at least new to me – Canterbury Tales. Steve’s voice was struggling, though – cold weather, maybe, it was reasonably brisk in the church.
This was a great venue for the band, and they had really nice lighting too. I enjoyed it hugely, and felt much much better for going, Next up they’re doing a Standing Room Only set of gigs in pubs near Wells. We have tickets for the Bristol one in December – can’t wait.