New North East band “3 ‘til Midnight” played the Bute Arms at High Spen on Friday 3rd February.

This is a fairly small, traditional ‘Free House’ which currently only books bands for its ‘Friday Night Live’ set, but it is a great venue with a good stage area, lots of power points, clear acoustics and, dare I say, excellent beer! Moreover, the local audience is friendly and gaggin’ to be entertained, which is exactly what this band did.

A new ‘Cover’ band, put together by previous members of “Itchy Feet” and “Twilight”, “3 ‘til Midnight” put on a great show and commanded an audience response from the start with  startling versions of “Dakota”, “All or Nothing”,  “Won’t Back Down” and “Mustang Sally”.

James Clark, lead singer, had his work cut out when some of the, dare I say, prettier members of the audience danced at his feet. But the performance never faltered even if his ‘focus’ was forced to. The audience were strategically mellowed by versions of “Dock of the Bay” and “My Girl” and then lifted again to the sound of more classics such as “Last to Know” and “Have a Nice Day”. With a 28 track set list I won’t detail them all here, but, suffice to say, the band made each one their own and the audience loved them for it.

As the unmistakeable opening sequence of the “Friends” theme tune “I’ll be there for you” grabbed the unsuspecting ear, the audience seemed to reach a new ‘high’ and the revellers at the front really let go. The ‘high’ was sustained through to the close with such classics as “I’m a Believer”, “Hard Days Night”, “Boys of Summer” and “Wishing Well”.

With the audience demanding an encore James even asked them what they wanted to hear. It’s not often you get to hear audience requests being taken but these boys seemed to have a big enough repertoire to pull it off. Winding the night up with “Bad Day” and “Summer of 69” I came to realise how the band came by its name. Thanks to the new licensing hours, it was nearly midnight. The locals had been well entertained and the band was re-booked on the spot by popular demand.

The band was ‘tight’ and seriously professional throughout. James is a great front man. His vocal is his own. He doesn’t mimic, he takes ownership of a wide range of well loved classics and delivers them as the songs demand, be it rock, pop or ballad.

Gary McBeth plays keyboards and, with his E-mu and Yamaha patched to soft synths on a PC, he was flawless. He even dared to take on the Billy Joel classic “My Life” and delivered it with style. Drums were sequenced but, unlike so many I’ve heard, they were full of life and individually crafted by the band.

Rod Giles provided guitar. Like the voice on the Marks & Spencer ad, this was not just any guitar. This was a “Variax” guitar! This explained the awesome sounds encountered throughout the set, from classic Gibson Les Paul lead solos to 12 string ‘acoustic heaven’, all delivered with the skill from a seasoned axe man! There were even a few genuinely ‘face melting’ solos in the heavier parts of the set. These were so good on at least two occasions that I watched people at the bar put down their drinks and grab their ‘air guitars’. What more can I say?

All said, a fantastic night at an excellent venue with a great band, great beer and, perhaps above all, a great audience. They play the Bute Arms again on 9th June. Treat yourself! Go see ‘em! They are a new band but already have a number of dates booked. There will be many more soon, but those I know are listed here.