Garcia at the Camden Eye

Saturday night and I was supposed to be going to a gig at the Garage. But it was suddenly postponed. A little digging on the internet explained why. A member of the Lilacs had just been diagnosed with testicular cancer. Damned good excuse for postponing a gig in my books!

So that left me kicking my heels. I looked to see if there was anything on at any of the pub venues that might appeal to me. Nothing much did, but the Camden Eye stated that they were holding an afternoon free gig. Given I have a freedom pass, I thought I have literally nothing to lose so would give it a go. No band or bands, or even genre, were mentioned, so truly lucky dip.

What I found was just one band, who as it turned out played more than an hour longer than advertised. The band was called Garcia, and they played sort of bluesy rock, a combination of a little of their own material plus a lot of classics, like Satisfaction, Jumping Jack Flash, Born to Be Wild. 

To put it mildly it was a slow start. Initially the band members outnumbered the audience. And they were a trio! But it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

As soon became clear, and they said themselves, this was partially improvised. Before every song there was a discussion, occasionally lengthy, about what they should play next. They made an unlikely looking group, the bassist looking like Chewbacca dressed up as as a hippie, Carlos nattily attired with hat and pencil moustache and Phillip on drums appearing not to have got the invite with the dress code (although comfortably the best dressed in my opinion in t-shirt and jeans. Keep it simple!)

So they did a set before going off for a fag break, by which time the audience was nudging double figures. The sort of crowd that if you left you felt you had to personally explain to the band why. As some people did.

At one point the lead guitarist, Carlos, walked to the back of the room (its not a big room) where a young man was standing with his skateboard, which,  he asked to borrow and while still playing proceeded to skate backwards across the room and attempt a flip.You wouldn't see a Gallagher brother do that! They also offered me a can of beer, which was sweet but I declined in favour of my pint of rhubarb cider.

What became clear to me very early on is that the three of them could really play, although not actually my preferred style of music. I decided on balance to get another drink and stay for the second session. And I was very glad I did as then the audience started to grow and the atmosphere warmed up.

One interesting aside, Carlos is Spanish and speaks with a distinct Spanish accent, Woody, the bass guitarist, has a strong Geordie accent, but none of this comes across in their singing voices at all. All three including the very good drummer had very decent voices. Also being a trio the drummer was rather more in the forefront than generally in four pieces where the drummer usually gets relegated to the background. Here he was literally centre stage (if there was a stage, which there wasn't😂)

By the end of the third session, during which I felt the need for a third pint (which was probably one too many) the place was really rocking. Just a very good experience, particularly as was free. And if I saw them playing again I would definitely be happy to pay admission.