Ready

Time passed and eventually the day came, the day where we were playing outside the comfort zone of our little village in that there London.
Pete's brother Johnny runs the Ruskin Arms in East Ham. In a previous life it was a major rock venue with acts like the Faces and Status Quo playing there. It is most famous however for being a regular venue for Iron Maiden (look on their early album covers, it usually gets a reference).

Recently refurbished and now part of a hotel it has been putting on live music on Saturdays for some time, however this has been quite low key. Apparently the acts play, the punters continue talking, the acts finish, the punters keep on talking. No clapping, no interaction. So we were expecting a frosty reception and had decided to treat it almost like a rehearsal.
We travelled down in convoy, parked up and went in.
A huge room, big TV's showing the cup final, pool tables and many people from different backgrounds. This was going to be interesting.
So we had some beer, then we had some food and some more beer after which we unloaded and then had some more beer. The football finished and we set up. Setting up in a room full of people is a bit strange for us and it took a bit longer than usual as I had some trouble with annoying wires. Anyway eventually we were ready and our Superfan had turned up (thankyou!).
This is a picture of me.. ready (thanks H).
By now the pub was packed so with no sound check we launched into our first set.

We never get much audience reaction from the first 4 songs, a bit of swaying, clapping and cheering but it is all quite polite. The Ruskin were a little harder, some mild swaying, the odd clap. Then we got to Fishermans Blues.... Great song, lovely rolling rhythm, they started moving, I spotted a couple of them singing along. Good cheer at the end. Things were looking up.  After which it was time for a new song.. Teenage Dirt Bag.. A sure fire winner. They really started to participate at that point, especially when Matt had his singing debut, singing the teenage girls line. By the end of the first set we had defied the odds and actually had cheers, whoops, clapping....

The second set kicks off with Mr Brightside, as soon as I started the Riff they went bananas and they stayed being bananas for the rest of the night. All credit to Jamie our singer, he really knows how to work a crowd. It also helps that there were a load of folks down for a 3 day football event, they were on a mission to have a good time and really joined in.

By the time we had finished the second set they were all on their feet, it was amazing. We then had our secret weapon, the proclaimers.. 

They loved it, no matter where they were from, what language they spoke within 30 seconds the whole pub, united as one was singing along. I suspect Jamie could have got most of them to walk 500 miles at that point.
We finally finished and had the strange and rather lovely experience of complete and utter strangers shaking our hands, hugging us, asking Bill for autographs, having selfies with Jamie, BUYING US DRINKS.

The world doesn't need the United Nations, the world needs Jamie Wilson, some cider and a microphone.