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Thanks to Meriel for this review
For those unable to be at the Fishponds, you missed a real treat. Ray Hearne warmed up the audience nicely with his South Yorkshire slant on The Gaelic and world politics. By the time the hunched figure of Mr Tams made his way through the crowd, the atmosphere was decidedly expectant. We were then treated to an hour and a half of wonderful entertainment - music, song, poetry, interspersed with Tam's inimitable and seemingly effortless witticisms..."We're going to try and recreate the atmosphere of the old folk clubs....ah well, that's half the audience gone then". The song Lay me Low was about the Shaker people who were apparently against fornication but made great shelves - "This is the only song you can get flat-packed at Ikea"......Something of the Tams childhood and young years was revealed - "We didn't do O-levels at our school. We did metalwork, running in the cold and smoking".
The set they played was very similar to the Nettlebed gig in April. There's no question that Tam and Coope produce some truly stunning harmony, but then Barry is pretty experienced and could probably harmonise beautifully with a filling up toilet cistern ;-) We did get to hear Harry Stone, though nothing else from the recent albums, and in addition to keyboards and Tam's very impressive guitar (he took it off and admired it at one point), we also heard him in action on the Appliance (moothie) and "unaccompanied on the larynx". The crowd was very appreciative and at one point Tam was surprised by a camera flash. "Next time count me down 3, 2, 1 and I'll do a face". The monologue by (I think) Marriott Edgar, with its bastions and trunions, had me in stitches. Barry was enjoying himself immensely too. A John Clare poem led us into a Christmas sequence, rounded off with a resounding Wesleyan carol. This little religious interlude was surrounded by a song about old-fashioned pubs closing down and John B. Spencer's One more Whisky and Everybody's Cruising on a Saturday Night, so Methodist sobriety didn't feature too highly overall. I was hoping to hear You keep me Right on Line at this point but alas it didn't come.
This was my first full length Tams gig and what a superb evening it was. The packed out venue could, according to Mick Peat, have been filled three times over. Hopefully this will persuade the boys to come back soon. What do you say Tam? In the meantime, now let's see, where exactly is the Processed Pea?