The Ministry Of Beaver had a couple of great gigs this weekend. On Saturday we played at The Beer Engine, Coventry. Some of the regulars were there and the usual crowd of Beaver friends. Nice to see Jack there too. It was a great gig with some good audience response and we were immediately offered three bookings of our choice for next year. I always enjoy playing at the Beer Engine.
On Sunday, we played as part of the rescheduled Napton festival at The Assembly, Leamington. The Assembly opened recently and is a top-class venue, which is sure to host some pretty major gigs over the coming years, as it has a superb lighting rig and sound system. It’s also kitted out perfectly for live music. Paul, who often does the live sound mixing for Ministry of Beaver and works for the BBC, was consulted as to the venue set-up and the facilities back-stage are second to none, complete with locking dressing rooms and showers.
The Napton festival ran over the weekend and was headlined on Saturday by Bad Company, who apparently lived up to their name, when their drunken lead-singer threw his mic stand into the audience and then they went on to destroy their dressing room – a bit pathetic really.
We were the penultimate act on Sunday night, just before Sunday’s headliners, Jilted Generation, took to the stage. The on-stage sound was immense and the thrill of playing that size of venue was just fantastic. We played for just under an hour and made the set a little more focussed on contemporary material. I know that Andi particularly enjoyed hearing his guitar backwash from the venue – it’s rare that you get to hear yourselves making such a big sound.
It’d be nice to think that we’ll get to play there again. I hope so.