Legends at the Southport Beer Festival 2013

The Lunchtime Legends will be playing on Saturday 19th October at the Sandgrounder Beer Festival, beginning at lunchtime, 1.00p.m. The festival is in St John Ambulance Hall, Wright Street, Southport, about three minutes' walk from Southport railway station. Admission to the beer festival: £3.00, but free for CAMRA members.

The Legends at Whitby 2013

The Legends in the Elsinore, Whitby
(Photo: Sam Thomas)

The annual Lunchtime Legends rock & roll party in the Elsinore went well as always, with the pub packed. It was great to see a row of children at the front, the oldest nine, who all sat there throughout the whole three hours enjoying themselves, joining in the songs and the arm waving to the anthems, and in one case even buying a CD. One girl sang the whole chorus of Poison Ivy into the microphone. We are, I was reliably told, better than One Direction - high praise indeed. After a 35-song set, my voice was slightly knackered.

While at Whitby, we learnt that we will  be playing the Sandgrounder Beer Festival in Southport on Saturday 19 October 2013 - at lunchtime, of course.

Whitby gig 2013

Legends at the Liverpool Beer Festival

Our Lunchtime Legends gig at the Liverpool Beer Festival went well, despite a late start due to the sound man, Ash, being delayed by bad traffic. Our usual line-up was augmented by Jez Lowe on bass; he had driven over from York especially to play with us. The late start meant we couldn't afford to have a sound check and we had to rely on Ash sorting it out during the first number and, to be fair, he did a good job. During our second spot, the audience began to loosen up, dancing in front of us and hands in the air waving to anthems such as Daydream Believer and Hi Ho Silver Lining. Because we were running late, we had to shorten our set, which was a disappointment and we had no time to play the encore that was being called for. One woman said how she was so pleased to hear us singing Terry by Twinkle, as no one ever covered it, and she bought a copy of the CD that it's on. We sold a few CDs, which was very nice.

One of the perks of playing at a beer festival is you get some free beer, although for obvious reasons you're expected not to get legless. We were given a George Wright beer first, followed by Liverpool Organic Styrian and then one from Brimstage. All good beers, in good nick too, and after 90 minutes of singing, very welcome. It was good to see some friends there at the festival too, including Harri the real ale drinker from Finland. He gave me a few photos he'd taken of me at the Southport Beer Festival.

After the session closed at 4.00 p.m., we went to the nearby Augustus John for a pint before taking ourselves and our instruments home. Beartown Kodiak Gold was my pint. In the evening, Chris and I went for a few pints in the Guest House in Southport. A good way of rounding the day off.