Sidebar

Ode to Somerset- the 2nd half of our rural tour

Having enjoyed the first installment of Portico Invade Somerset so much, we were unprepared for the decidedly ominous fashion with which Part 2 kicked off. Midway down the M5, with Fleetwood Mac pumping through the car stereo, our upbeat mood was shattered by the sudden bursting of one of our vans tires. We skidded to a halt in the hard-shoulder and thanked the gods of jazz nothing worse happened. Milo and Dunc changed the tire and we proceeded to Burnham-on-Sea thankfully unscathed. For those who don’t know, Burnham-on-Sea is a pretty knackered seaside town, all empty amusement arcades and old peoples homes. And a spanking arts centre. Weird. The gig was about two-thirds full and went fine. The real fun began, however, when we met our host for the evening- Jamie Davis. Jamie has spent the last 30 years as the drummer for 60s/70s pop novelty act Mungo Jerry (they did ‘In The Summertime” which Shaggy so memorably sampled). He lives in a mansion on the beach and has obviously made loads of dosh and dedicated his life to spending it on stuff to fill his decadent home. Think John Lennon-style white grand piano at the bottom of a spiral staircase… Still, lovely bloke and his wife cooks a mean chilli and mixes a stiff whiskey and diet coke. Chin chin.
Gig number six was Lydford on Fosse. After popping by BBC Radio Somerset for a quick chat about our tour, we arrived in Lydford- a charming little village more in keeping with the quaint Somerset we’d come to expect than Burnham was. Packed audience, wicked acoustics and a top set. We stayed the night with a lovely elderly couple called Jane and Peter Walker who were sun dial experts and fixed us a cracking breakfast. With gig number 7 in Chilcompton only a short drive away, we decided to spend the day in near-by Glastonbury, chilling in a café among all the shops touting their pick-and-mix, quasi-spiritual esoteric wares. Duncan looked very uncomfortable, Nick bought some sandalwood incence. Such is Portico Quartet.
Chilcompton that evening was the toughest acoustic we’d encountered- more of a gym than music venue, but once again the people turned up and a good show was had. Nick’s reference to NWA’s Straight Outta Compton fell on deaf ears but generally the crowd were in more than appreciative. Support was provided by the marvellous Helena who also put us up for the night and plied us with booze and good cheer (“shall we just get bollocksed?”, she suggested in response to Jack and Milo’s heated discussion on phrygian mode). Thanks to Dawn and Max too, for their promotion and hospitality.
And so to East Quantoxhead for our final gig of our tour. A beautiful, remote village (bloody hard to find!), a full house and one of the nicest shows of the whole trip. Modest in many ways as these gigs were, you can’t beat the simple joy of an attentive audience in an atmospheric space.

All in all a great tour. I think we are looking forward to the technical luxuries of the arts venues and clubs of our forthcoming national tour, but we are all the better for the 8 village halls we had the pleasure of playing. Not to mention the warmth and generosity with which we were received everywhere we went. A big thank you to Beccy from Take Art for programming the tour.