Forbidden Planet’s Halloween

Bit of a special Solid Air tonight, for halloween many are in costume of varying sorts and we have an unusual bill. We also have the usual forbidden planet visuals; the films on-screen behind the musicians are all dark and sinister.

Antonia Edgeley-Long opens, for what is her farewell gig before she goes travelling. She’s playing sweet acoustic picked chords and her voice is very exposed over the top, makes for a lovely vibe, and is in real contrast to the blackness of the night and the atmosphere set by the films and us dressed and decorated peeps. Alex “Honest” Taylor joins her for her ending, which includes Boris Pickett’s Monster Mash.

Language, Timothy! never fail to surprise; tonight they open with a pleasing rendition of Suicide Is Painless, the M*A*S*H theme. We then have a music box intro, before Mrs P reads a sinister ghost story from a girls annual, while The Chairman overlays this with awkward synth discords and samples of girls laughing evilly, all very effective, and scarily told. We next have a rendition of my fave classic Ghost In The Machine, not heard this performed live for a while, melded into samples from The Omen. Next a spooky story from The Chairman to wound music box accompaniment followed by their ending, a tribute to Jimmy Saville, who would have been 85 today, the lament Jonny Has Gone For A Soldier

The Worry Dolls close the evening, in half acoustic mode – a laid back end to the evening, despite the large numbers of intruments involved – guitars, ukelele, bass, violin; keys & drums in the background. They have chosen sombre songs for the set tonight, still excellently arranged and orchestrated, they take a particular slant to cover Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, choosing a modal form to present it to us. Towards the end of the set they throw in some of their more lively tunes, the sort of stuff one can jig along to. Good enjoyment and contrast to the evening.