I have to be
honest, although I have a developing love for soul music, I wasn’t completely
sure of Roy’s back catalogue. My boyfriend got the tickets months ago after
seeing he was playing in London and told me we were going and I would need a
babysitter – at the time, it seemed like an incredibly long time away so I didn’t
do anything, about it until a few days before the gig when I had a huge panic!
Luckily one of my old work colleagues teenage children is trying to raise some
money for travelling so I managed to wrangle a last minute sitter, I’m pretty
sure the boyf would have never let me forget that I missed Roy Ayres through
bad planning and disorganisation…
Babysitter
sorted we set off to London. I hadn’t been to the Jazz Café before, a beautiful
Art Deco bar and club in Camden – I’m a huge fan of the style and it was a bit
an extra treat for the night! We were pretty early and managed to get a great
spot right by the side of the stage which we guarded with our lives, never
leaving less than two of our group in the spot – the whole place was packed. I
kind of wished we had splashed the extra £15 per person to sit up on the
balcony, they had tables and an impressive view of the stage as well as their
own bar, I will definitely get up there at my next Jazz Café gig come hell or
high water because the photos from that vantage point are *lit* (Do cool
kids still say that?)
The support act
was surprisingly cool - I was really happy to be introduced to Louise Golby’s
music, she belted out some pretty nice soul – we actually bought her album at
the event and listened to the whole thing when we got home that night. She even
got up with Roy later on in the night and sung with him, which was super fun!
And then there
was Mr. Ayres. As I said, although I obviously recognised some of his music I
would not have been able to sing the lyrics to every single song. The majority
of the audience were clearly lifelong
fans as they knew every single word cheering and whooping as they heard the
first few bars of each song he played – the atmosphere was incredible. I always
think you can tell how well a gig is going by how many people are in toilets
during it and there was not a single person in that corridor for the whole of
Roy’s stage time!
Have I told you
about my love of the keytar? I live in hope that one day I’ll be musically inclined
enough to be able to play it. I tried learning the piano but I struggle to play
different things with each of my hands so I hit a bit of a plateau but seriously,
that instrument is the bomb. I’m sorry for not catching the guy’s name but the
keyboardist in the band was something else, at times playing both a classic
Rhodes organ and the keytar together – he was obviously hugely talented and definitely
elevated this gig from enjoyable to incredible for me!
My only teeny tiny gripe? I wish the
drinks weren’t quite so expensive at The Jazz Café, I know they have to
maintain the place and staff and it’s in the centre of Camden which can’t be
the cheapest of places, but I feel if you pay £30 for a gig it’s nice if you
can afford to have a couple of drinks as well – although, let’s be fair, it was
a school night and I probably shouldn’t have been knocking back too much gin
anyway ;-)
Overall, we all had a great time - it's clear that Roy isn't the springiest of chickens but he has an undeniable stage presence and an incredibly loyal following which makes for an extremely enjoyable night - I'm now working my way through the Roy Ayres back-catalogue through my headphones at work and I'm loving every single soulful second...
What’s your
favourite Roy Ayres track? Where you at the Jazz Café this week? Let me know
below ↓↓
Katy x
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