Sunday, April 21, 2024

Stephen Lane and The Fenestration at Hertford Museum

Well, I spared you the distress of the flat car battery, how annoyed I got with the AA and all that two weeks ago. The upshot of all this was that I was told to run my car every week, I saw this gig advertised on Facebook and running the car to a destination seemed like a great idea. We missed the first act, Afternoon, which was a shame, but saw Stephen Lane's quiet set. His style is appealingly simple: picked notes on a Spanish guitar with storytelling-in-song integrated into the music. I was also impressed by his matching music stand, lead and socks, presumably chosen to match the lyric about the colour turquoise. He even had a blue biro in his breast pocket. Now that's attention to detail!

The Fenestration have A TRUMPET!! What a perfect addition to a Sunday afternoon! With vintage guitar, vintage bass, a small Gretsch kit and Gina Davidson on vocals, they played a set of garage-influenced music. I particularly liked the song they ended their set with, or so it seemed until they found a song called Grass on a band member's mobile phone, had a brief listen, and then played it as an encore. I loved their informality- the backing vocals were the shouted instructions between the band, almost as though the songs were being reconstructed in front of our eyes: "Do that twice at the beginning, then four of them...". Such fun! I can't imagine a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon. There were lots of friendly people to chat with, including Looking Glass Alice who had DJ'd at the gig me and Robert did at The Betsey Trotwood last year. It was lovely to hear Gina singing, and I do so love these gigs with a Youth Club vibe. Yes I do.




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