24/8/2008 August Bank Holiday in Barnet

Subject	August Bank Holiday in Barnet
DateCreated	10/2/2008 3:09:00 PM
PostedDate	8/24/2008
	Damn,  here's another one that slipped through the net. It's all going to pot here - at the time of writing I'm now over a month behind with my blogging again, having been to gigs the last four nights and got up for work at 6.30 every morning.  Meanwhile, back in what passed for our English 'summer'... It's August Bank Holiday. Usually there is some multi-band event in Camden that I want to go to, but this time there isn't really anything that interests me.  All is not lost however, as there is a really good cover band playing for free in a local pub - and most unusually for anywhere that has live music, the beer is really good!  So I find myself at the Builders Arms in New Barnet. They don't normally have bands at this intimate local watering hole, although there has been a regular acoustic jam night thing going on. The band are called Three (yes, there are three of them) and have been going for quite a few years. They are excellent musicians and play particularly well together. They play rock covers, but throw in a lot of songs that you won't normally hear in a pub - which makes a refreshing change. How nice not to hear 'Mustang Sally' and 'Brown Eyed Girl'! We need more bands who don't play those tired old songs.  This band don't look anything special (what cover band does?) but they can rock pretty hard when they want to, and sometimes it's a real pleasure just to listen to some real class musicians play. They have a very relaxed vibe, and this spreads to the crowd - although I guess the beer might have something to do with this...  The Abbot ale this place serves is particularly fine, although very expensive - this pub is the 'anti-Wetherspoons'. Not many people seem have have been aware of this gig, although a few fans of the band seem to have found out - I see quite a few familar faces from the days when rock cover bands were a regular feature in various local pubs.  It's a nice change to do something I used to do once or twice a week not so long ago - enjoy some quality ale while watching a band play classic rock covers in a pub within staggering distance of home.