How can two venues both get it so wrong in Bolton town centre on a Saturday night? First up was the Man and Scythe. Known up until quite recently for putting quality live bands on both Friday and Saturday nights despite only paying a paltry £150 and thus ensuring the place was always packed out (certainly on a Saturday), once the new owners/management team took over it was announced that Fridays were to be given over to acoustic acts. Fair enough there are some decent acoustic acts out there but to get one person entertaining all evening is stretching it to be honest. Dont get me wrong , I absolutely love Dog Sunday/Buskers ball and other open mic nights which create a great community atmosphere as everyone joins in, but to have one person stood there all night being largely ignored...This was very much the case last night with Mick Nash on the guitar.Goodish player, reasonable singer nice guy but no good for a Saturday night! Ive never seen the place so empty. Popped into barristers at the end of the evening. Now Barristers used to be great fun when Martin Taylor played the piano and sang there. Occasionally wed have Paul Crompton jamming along on the bass and more often than not Derek Brandwood on the gob iron. Martin was a human jukebox, what that boy didnt know or could at least summon up from the depths wasnt worth knowing. He pulled in a crowd of genuine music lovers, some of whom would get up and sing along to Zappa, Steely Dan Bowie etc. The place was always heaving, they made an absolute fortune behind that bar. All good things come to an end, Martin left, but all was not lost as we were then treated to a variety of versatile guitar/vocalists and duos such as John and Donna providing us with their own unique interpretations of great songs, the place was still buzzing! Not so last night! Id not been in for a while but had heard about a recent change in policy which meant that the management were now booking artists through an agency. Im not saying the girl was particularly bad as a karaoke turn, but to get someone in dressed up like a fairy cake and warbling a set of 80s MOR classics over some dire backing tracks queued up in military fashion on her trusty laptop is certainly not my idea of entertainment! Wheres the fun, the spontaneity, the audience involvement?? Id rather stay at home and not listen to the records! Needless to say Ive never ever seen the place so empty. What are these places trying to do? Commit commercial suicide? All this and an uncertain future for the glorious Dog and Partridge - its just too much to take in! There are any number of pubs in Bolton I could go to on a Saturday night if I wanted to be treated like a moron, I expect better! Rant over!
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 12:19:37 +0000
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