People make me so mad sometimes. What should have been a good night out in Winchester turned into a bit of a disappointment because people have no damn respect.

There were four acts on at the pub we went to. The first, a young kid (well, about 17ish) called Dan, was pretty good, just a singer-songwriter with a guitar and he had a sweet voice. The pub was fairly empty when we arrived, but it fuilled up quickly – we grabbed the last two chairs and soon after the floor was littered with bodies. The second band, Geko, weren’t bad – girl singer (slightly flat at times but otherwise okay), two guitars and drums – main problem was that the drums were far too loud and drowned everyone else out. Then the third band – Kung Fu Phinga Pik and the Lovestik – took to the stage and it became obvious that they were local and just about everyone there was there to support them – which was fine, because there was a very lively atmosphere. Shame their music didn’t really do it justice. Some of the songs were okay, but they had a go at doing some strange Streets-esque acoustic rap that just didn’t really come off, not least because the rapper rapped far too quickly. I think the lyrics were meant to be amusing but I could only catch the odd word here and there. U and I weren’t too fussed about the music, and spent the evening messing around with the candles on the table, dipping our fingers in the hot wax and creating molten wax structures! So the music wasn’t to our taste, but we respected the musicians, kept quiet while they performed and clapped politely.

Then came U’s friend, Nigel, of the Sad Song Co. As soon as the previous band left the stage and he stood up there was a mass exodus from the pub – not because of him, but because they had obviously come to support the others and weren’t going to stay. Unfortunately, not everyone left – because those that did stay talked and shrieked and laughed and generally drowned out poor Nigel and his bass player (Jason). We were sitting right near the front and it was a struggle to hear what he was singing – he kept asking for the mics to be turned up but the louder he was, the louder the idiots in the pub got. You could see he was getting really pissed off by now, and he said something along the lines of “Ah well, I’ll just plough through the set list, I don’t care.” From what I could hear he was really good, far better than the previous three acts, but the kids in the pub (all fairly pissed and probably celebrating/commiserating A level results, but that’s no excuse) just carried on making a dreadful noise. There were a groups of maybe a dozen people actually listening, and at the end Nigel said “Thank you (pointing at individuals)you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, erm, you, you and you …. and [two fingers] to the rest of you.” Not a happy chappy, and justifiably so.

Anyway, we came away feeling fairly cheesed off with it all. We’d only gone to Winchester because we can’t make his gig in Oxford tonight, we’d tolerated the second rate support acts and then hadn’t been allowed to enjoy the headline band. Very annoying. Well done Nigel for doing your best under very difficult circumstances, and thank you very bloody much you idiots who ruined the evening.

Anyway, U bought the Sad Song Co cd so at least we’ll be able to hear what he’s like in peace and quiet.