The Boys Are Back In Town

As many of you will know I am a great lover of rock music, and one of my favourite bands is not one of the big well know bands that everyone has heard of, but a band with a much bigger heart than most of the current rock bands knocking about today. They are of course Gun's & Oatcakes. The band is in no way a Gun's & Roses tribute act, as the name would suggest, in fact they are more of a Thin Lizzy tribute act in all fairness as Steve Johnson, the wily old lead vocalist and lead guitarist, was once a great friend of the sadly past away lead singer of Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynott.
The band has been going now for what seems an eternity. I can remember first going to see them back in around 1988 at the Wheatsheaf in Stoke and thinking they were the best thing since sliced bread! I soon became a bit of a groupie, following the band all around the city at all manner of venues such as The Highwayman near Cheadle, The Oxford Arms at May Bank, The Talbot in Stoke and at their regular performances at Yates Wine Lodge in Hanley. I also caught the band at The Limelight Club in Crewe where they played a regular gig, and at Burslems fantastically named pub The Sagger Maker's Bottom Knocker (Saggers for short). The band also used to play at many of the city's working men's clubs such as Norton, Smallthorne, Pits Hill, Longton and of course Fegg Hayes.

Unfortunately, due to the fact Steve could never seem to keep a band line-up for long enough to make a serious run of things as in the past, as they never seemed to have the same drive to perform as Steve has got, he finally decided to give up the ghost and call it a day last year at a benefit gig for local cancer charity's including the Donna Louise Trust on the 16th June 2006. The gig was a huge success, and raised loads of money for the charities concerned, but obviously had a huge tinge of sadness surrounding it as the Oatcakes were to be no more.........

That is until I got wind of a reunion gig in prospect for the band. I eagerly checked out the Gun's & Oatcakes web page and found it to be true! The band were reforming for a few more gig's after a huge response for them to get back together from the public. The gig was scheduled for 31st March 2007 at Fegg Hayes Working Men's Club and I was going to make sure I was there to see the boys rock out again on stage. Now I admit this venue is not exactly the home of rock music, in fact quite the opposite, with three hour games of bingo more likely to be played here than good rock music, but a Guns & Oatcakes reunion does exactly what it says on the tin and I was sure they would rock the joint. Every time you go to see the guys it is more like a huge family gathering, as over the years Steve has made many friends who always seem to turn up for the gigs every time you go to see them. I kind of knew what to expect on the night and the set list was full of the old regular tunes that Steve plays so well. I took with me the wife as usual and G & O newbies Shaun and Lisa. The set list was as follows:

• Thunderstruck by AC/DC
• Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love by Van Halen
• Love Ain't No Stranger by Whitesnake
• Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own by U2
• Since You've Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson
• Strangers In The Night by Saxon
• Don't Believe A Word by Thin Lizzy
• Black Rose by Thin Lizzy
• WORLDS LONGEST BINGO BREAK
• Beautiful Day by U2
• Sweet Child Of Mine by Gun's And Rose's
• Times Like These by The Foo Fighters
• Hysteria by Def Leppard
• Vertigo by U2
• Boys Of Summer/20th Century Boy/My Heart Will Go On by Don Henley/T-Rex/Celine Dion
• In These Arms by Bon Jovi
• First Encore
• One Night Love Affair by Bryan Adams
• Enter Sandman by Metallica
• Second Encore
• Boys Are Back In Town by Thin Lizzy

• It was a rousing end to the set as the boys rounded the night off with the classic Thin Lizzy track, and I'm sure Shaun was impressed by the guitar performance from Steve. It was obvious that the boys had not played together much recently, and the night was tinged with sadness as a close friend of Steve had passed away earlier in the day and it was obvious he was clearly very upset by this. But the consummate professional in him showed through as he carried the band through the set with ease. The new line up includes Steve on Vocals and Lead Guitar, Jack Rowe on Rhythm Guitar and Vocals, Karl Arran Johnson on Bass Guitar and Vocals (Steve's son) and Chris Hayes on Drums.
  I was chuffed to see Steve again on the scene and it was quite apparent that the band was a bit put out at the bingo break which put them off their stride a bit. This is supposed to be just a few gigs put together due to public response, but having known Steve for as long as I have, I'm surprised it's taken him this long to get back on stage again and I'm sure the boys will be back in town again soon rocking as they do with the usual suspects watching them, and hopefully a few new ones too.