One of the best ever Roadhouse Xmas party gigs. a great crowd, a great bunch of guests and a night to remember.

This was our 5th succesive Xmas gig at the Bulls Head, so it is becoming a firm tradition. those of you that have been to one of these fun nights will know that we love to share them with past memebers of the Band and great musical talents that have supported us over the years.

Kelly on stage in Oxford
Kelly on stage in Oxford

First up was the excellent Geronimo of Screaming Lord Sutch fame, with John Scott (USA) on bass and our our own Roger Hunt on drums. this was followed by a marvellous set from legendary UK Blues Man, John O’Leary and ex Roadhouse guitar god, Jules Fothergill. Tim Mathewman joined on bass and solo’d really well (he must have played at least 4 solos on the night). Along with our own Rog and Danny on drums and guitar respectively, these guys produced some awesome stuff. Next up was Jimmy Dublin who played a couple of well received songs with ex Roadhouser Funky George on the drums.

At 9.35 it was time for the Roadhouse set. With Sarah dressed as a sexy Santa and Mandie as a Xmas fairy (fully equipped with in dress light show) the stage image was a little different. We opened with a belting ‘No Place to Hide’, much to poor Sarah’s chagrin as she has only ever sung it twice before, followed by ‘Rainmaker’ in which both girls vocal performances went down a storm with the crowd. This was followed by a belting version of the new song ‘Hell On Wheels’ which went down really well. Sarah then sung a great version of ‘The Lying Game’. This was the first time that her family had come to see the show and they really  enjoyed this performance and the overall gig. Mandie sang a killer ‘House of the Rising Sun’ before our special guest Kelly joined us and delivered a storming version of ‘The Big Easy’ and then sang brilliantly with Mandie on ‘Rock Me Baby’. Danny and I had a decent guitar battle in the middle of that one. Talking of guitar, we were then joined by ex Roadhouse guitar god, Jules Fothergill for the last two numbers. ‘Tellin Lies’ was delivered as a kind of Wishbone Ash twin riff thingy and then the encore, Preacher Man decended into some epic Skynyrd style mahem. What a great crowd reaction, I really don’t know where the hour went?

 To finish we had an epic instrumental from Pete Sargeant and Jules followed then by a show stopping couple of numbers from the amazing Robin Bibi. A massive thanks to Pete Feenstra for having us and the wonderful Bob Bonsey for running the night.

A happy Xmas to all our friends and heres to rocking in 2013

Gary