Champions, Bournemouth
Shelter Box Charity Fundraiser
Tonight Champions hosts a complete mixed bag of acts who have all been brought together for this ‘Shelter Box’ Charity Fundraiser. Annie Winter is the 1st to take to the stage and tonight she is backed by the Cannon Street Armada bassist Leighton Allen.
As Annie’s delightful voice starts her first song, a strange hush comes over the venue with everyone stopping chatting and attentively listening, amid the silence came a huge sneeze to which Annie just says “bless you’ calmly mid song. A lovely emotional ode to a lost pet in the laid back song ‘Mr Pet’ which shows Annie’s top class vocal style at her best, the set also including a nice version of the classic ‘Stand By Me’ which got a few members of the audience singing along. They both leave the stage having impressed virtually everyone present giving a great start to the evening.
Next up are The Blues Machine, a three piece band from Christchurch who as their name suggests play the blues, these youngsters seem to have been rifling through their Father’s record collections as the influences seem to be mostly from 60’s acts, such as Jimi Hendrix and Mark Bolan. The band power through an impressive set that includes some great self written numbers ‘ 4:54 Train’ and ‘Stoop so Low’ from their home produced CD .There is some epic guitar work from the naturally talented Ash who looks like his father could have been either Mark Bolan and Jimmy page. The outstanding part of their set comes in the from of a stunning version of ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ which was played and sung brilliantly, just proving that these guys are something quite special and are certainly given the attention from the audience that they deserve.
‘White Collar Boxing’ hit the stage at one hundred miles an hour with a passable cover of the Foo Fighters ‘Monkey Wrench’. They continue with their hyperactive lead singer Jim who is wearing a red striped Kermit the frog t-shirt, leaping all around the stage delivering his vocal style in a varied and an energetic way. The band have plenty of energy and bags of enthusiasm, but seem to be too busy coping styles from others well known bands rather than finding their own original style. The audience reacted well to the band and they soon had a few souls dancing down at the front as the band performed a cover of Jimi Hendrix ‘Purple Haze’.
Tonight’s headliners ‘Cannon Street Armada’ are a relatively new band and this is only 2nd gig together, they formed from a collection of other Hampshire based bands Roshambo, Hipfandango and The Fazers. They start well and seem to be well rehearsed and provide a confident set that provides a Britpop style sound somewhere along the lines of Ocean Colour Scene or The Enemy with some excellent guitar effects from both guitars. The only gripe is with Martin Gregory the band’s lead singer, although he has a great voice, delivering his vocals well, he does not seem to be really bothered at addressing or engaging the audience, I cannot believe for moment a front man is shy. The band along with a rock solid rhythm section seem to have the majority of the ingredients in place to build up a good following and take this band places.
Videos
Cannon Street Armada
White Collar Boxing
The Blues Machine
Annie Winter
Band Links
http://www.myspace.com/thebluesmachineuk
http://www.myspace.com/whitecollarboxingband
If you wish to make a donation to Shelterbox please go to the website link below:
http://www.shelterbox.org
Words and video By Dave Chinery(Chinners)
Pictures By Alex Freeman.
Cheers for taking the time to do this!
Hope you liked the show as much as we did.
WCB
White Collar Boxing were more than ‘passable’ , videos were distributed to many people and highly praised. I loved the original flare and enthusiasm with which these young lads hit the stage. Well played lads, if you were ‘passable’ i don’t know what the other bands would be……..
White Collar Boxing: awesome. Enough said.
The ‘Passable’ description was used only about the cover, the Foo Fighters are not the easiest band to cover. I thought in my opinion it was wrong for the band to start with a cover, it sets the wrong example to the audience!!!